Duquesne University Helping to Shape Future of Education Doctorate
Duquesne University’s School of Education will help to shape the future of the education doctoral degree and prepare school administrators and higher education faculty through a new, cooperative effort involving two national organizations and 21 public and private universities.
Concerned about the preparation of educational leaders, The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council of Academic Deans from Research Education Institutions joined forces to recast the practical education professional practice doctorate over the next three years, with input from Duquesne and other universities.
Duquesne is one of two schools in Pennsylvania and one of two private schools nationwide invited to participate in this groundbreaking effort. Duquesne’s nationally accredited School of Education garnered attention in academic circles because it already had laid groundwork to change its Interdisciplinary Doctoral Program for Educational Leaders (IDPEL) two years ago. IDPEL is designed for those who will lead educational enterprises rather than for those who will contribute to theory through research. The change in IDPEL converged with the Carnegie push to strengthen a professional practice doctorate as separate and distinct from a research doctorate.
“We’ve been selected to lead part of this national dialogue because of what Duquesne has accomplished so far,” said Dr. Olga Welch, dean of the School of Education, which was recently selected as a center for classroom teachers who wish to be nationally certified through the National Board Support Center. “It is an honor for us to be part of this discussion among cutting-edge universities asked to prepare a new generation of education practitioners.”
“Today, the Ed.D. is perceived as ‘Ph.D-lite,’” said Carnegie President Lee S. Shulman. “We must move forward on two fronts: rethinking and reclaiming the research doctors (the Ph.D.) and developing a distinct professional practice doctorate, whether we continue to call it an Ed.D. or decide to give it another name.”
“Many people come to the field of education who aspire not to research education, but to practice it,” said Dr. Rick McCown, Duquesne professor in the Department of Foundations and Leadership and a member of Duquesne’s Carnegie committee. “This change—and this program—is ideal for them, especially because the field of teacher education is expected to be under pressure in the next decade, expected to face a shortage of university professors to prepare classroom teachers.”
Besides creating a clear educational and career path, doctoral programs—both for researchers and practitioners—should involve a sense of stewardship, according to Duquesne’s preliminary proposal. As a Catholic university, Duquesne is rebuilding its education doctorate programs around the foundations of stewardship and moral leadership. Both degrees involve stewardship for generating, conserving and transforming knowledge, according to the proposal, though the professional practice doctorate focuses on public policy, administration and leadership instead of theory.
In developing new doctoral programs, the Duquesne team will analyze input from faculty in all departments of the School of Education; partner schools, agencies and organizations; current students and recent graduates of the doctoral programs; doctoral faculty from other professional schools at the University; and superintendents and former superintendents who hold academic appointments. Teams of six faculty members have been formed for each doctorate, the practical and the research degree. Each doctorate also would include a capstone demonstration of stewardship.
“Our efforts to enhance the quality of doctoral education have been recognized as being on the cutting edge of what’s being done,” McCown said. “We have something to contribute to all the universities on the list, and they to us.”
Other institutions could be asked to join this effort to transform the educational doctorate. Those already participating in the program, besides Duquesne, are:
University of Connecticut, University of Florida, University of Houston,
University of Kansas, University of Kentucky, University of Louisville, University of Maryland, University of Missouri-Columbia, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Northern Illinois University, University of Oklahoma, Penn State University, Rutgers University, University of Southern California, Vanderbilt University, University of South Florida, University of Vermont, Virginia Commonwealth University, Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University, and Washington State University.
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