A recent article in the New York Times reports that a surge in education leadership jobs is on the horizon. This is largely due to the fact that fixing failing schools has become an major focus of our national agenda. As a result, there is likely to be an increased need for educational leaders who can run charter schools as well as those who can found nonprofits to work on answering the challenges the field of education is facing and who can direct the turnarounds that troubled schools are seeking.

As a result of the increased need for educational leaders, many universities are launching new degree programs that are intended to draw in professors from schools of business, public policy and education. Even Harvard Graduate School of Education has taken note of the trend and has unveiled its first new degree program in over 74 years – a tuition-free, three-year doctoral program in education leadership.

“If you are going to be an effective leader, particularly in urban districts, you will need different skills than ed schools have traditionally offered,” says Robert B. Schwartz, who is the academic dean of the Harvard education school, in the New York Times article. “You need to be leading large-scale change, overseeing operations. You need political skills.”

Not surprisingly, the school has seen quite a response to its new program. In fact, with still another month left before the application deadline, 1,363 people have already started the process. Unfortunately, there are only 25 spots available.

Whether looking at the Harvard degree program or one of the other similar programs that have been cropping up around the country, each program places an emphasis on business and public policy training. This makes sense if you think about it, as a significant amount of money passes through our schools. In fact, the White House has set aside more than $4 billion to be put toward improving our schools. Furthermore, fundraising is becoming an increasingly more important component for schools as well as grant-writing, strategic partnering and taking steps toward administering culture change.

“The field is transforming pretty radically,” says Debra Meyerson, who is the co-founder of the policy, organization and leadership studies program at the Stanford School of Education, in the New York Times article. “People who have a growing amount of influence are people who can at least speak in business terms or at least be familiar with that way of thinking.”

At Stanford, which has long offered a two-year joint M.A. in education and M.B.A. degree program, has also made some changes in response to these changing needs. In fact the school has added a nine-month program that allows students to take more coursework in the areas of business and policy.

Since the business aspect of educational leadership programs has become so critical, the director of the Center for School Change at Macalester College in St. Paul, Joe Nathan, decided to consult with 25 chief executives before starting the Leadership Academy for Minnesota Charter and Alternative Public Schools. The program, which was started two years ago, is free if taken for no credit. Or, for $950, students can choose to apply credit toward their master’s program at Minnesota State. As part of the program, each participant is matched with one mentor who works in the business world as well as one who works in education.

Central Michigan University has also joined in by offering an online charter school leadership program, which has been drawing in people from around the country who are interested in obtaining high-level job training or taking advantage of the flexibility an online program has to offer.