CONCLUSION - The Handbook of Doctoral Programs: Issues and Challenges

The publishing of the Handbook of Doctoral Programs in Educational Leadership: Issues and Challenges surfaces at a signicant time of national attention on doctoral programs in educational leadership. Fore-most, our goal has been to address the pressing problem of underreporting the progress made in advanced educational leadership programs. However, at the same time, we acknowledge the reality of outdated and irrelevant components of doctoral programs for educational leaders.

Some of the issues and challenges facing our profession need only programmatic redenition. However others will require a redesign and transformation of doctoral education for the advanced preparation of school practitioners, clinical faculty, academic leaders and professional sta for the nation's schools and colleges, and the organizations that support them. Complicating the situation further has been the blurring of the distinction between the PhD and the EdD over the last century, requiring examination of purpose and content. The Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate (CPED), led by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, and partnered with the Academic Deans from Research Education Institutions, is comprised of a network of nearly two dozen U.S.-based colleges and universities aimed at creating doctoral programs in education that are geared more for practitioners than professional scholars. These universities are addressing substantive redesign and transformation by looking at such questions as: How should the EdD dier from the PhD? Is the traditional dissertation the appropriate nal product for the EdD? How can coursework better reect job-related issues? And, how can we redesign the EdD while ensuring rigor at the same time?

10This content is available online at <http://cnx.org/content/m14578/1.1/>.

The contributors to this Handbook have identied salient concerns and challenges to be addressed over the next several years and even decades to come. The educational leadership eld is at a critical juncture:

We can continue with the status quo or we can, as three of our authors posit, seriously consider disrupting it for the purpose of positive change. Yet another author draws attention to the importance of not only mentoring and advisement, but looking more closely at the front end of recruitment and selection. It is more than coincidental that several of the authors identify mentoring as a key component of substantively eective doctoral programs and outline the crucial distinction between mentoring and advising, as well as between eective and ineective mentoring involving individual students and cohorts. We can also learn by the exemplary models of doctoral programs presented by experienced faculty. Collectively, the authors highlight the importance of (1) recruitment and selection of doctoral students, (2) accreditation of programs, (3) principles and creeds of doctoral programs, (4) exemplary models to learn from, and (4) sociocultural inuences aecting doctoral programs.

Where MUST we go from here? The editors and authors of this Handbook feel that the educational leadership doctoral faculty has begun to remedy the problem of underreporting doctoral development and renement. We agree with Nettles and Millett (2006) that the challenges are not so much related to doctoral programs themselves but more so related to the doctoral education process. Our collective investigations of doctoral programs in educational administration (EdD and PhD) reveal well-constructed programs of study with highly-qualied doctoral faculty delivering them. We seem to be in general agreement with what specic courses, seminars, and internships doctoral students in educational leadership need. It is the more multidimensional and complex doctoral program process that needs our immediate attention. One of the authors astutely posits that university faculty in our eld pay much attention to the front end of the doctoral process (recruitment and selection) and the back end (dissertation proposals and defenses) but pay far less attention to the in between.

Much research is needed to investigate the relationship between admissions criteria and program out-comes. For example, we generally agree that Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores are helpful as a screening toolbut as one author believes, there is possibly a strong relationship between GRE scores and scholarly writing at the dissertation stage. One can stretch further and wonder if GRE scores might be related to time-to-degree and graduation rates?

It becomes clear from some of the chapters in this book that once a faculty body agree upon working denition(s) of mentoring that suits their context and needs, doctoral faculty must be provided the structure, support, and encouragement to develop and practice good doctoral mentoring skills. The research is also self-evident regarding the role of eective mentoring relationships between faculty and students when it comes to time-to-degree and dissertation completion rates.

Nettles and Millett's work (2006) identies many other challenges and issues for those of us working in educational administration doctoral programs to explore. In their 6-year study (1996-2001) they found the median elapsed time to degree was 5.75 years for doctoral students in education. Not meaning to insult any of our intelligences, we mistakenly translate this to mean that 50% of our doctoral students are taking 6 years or more to nish their dissertations. Below the surface, and even more troubling is the evidence that perhaps this time-to-degree gure (5.75) represents the line between completion and non-completion.

We suggest this is the case50% of the doctoral students in our discipline never nish the degree. This challenge needs immediate attention. Shrugging our shoulders is a luxury we simply cannot aord.

Though we have addressed numerous challenges and issues facing faculty and students in doctoral pro-grams in educational leadership, we realize that other salient challenges have yet to be addressed and still others will surface through conversations about this book. Any problems and issues can only be identied, studied, and acted on once the dialogue among the colleagues in the broader eld of educational leadership and administration begins. We are hopeful that this Handbook has accomplished just that.

In the Preface, we invited professors, practitioners, and doctoral students to join our conversation in an eort to learn about one another's advanced programs and to more fully explore contemporary issues in doctoral education. Twenty-nine education leaders contributed to the Handbook of Doctoral Programs in Educational Leadership: Issues and Challenges as a dynamic beginning dialogue.

Now, let the continuing conversation and tough work begin.

Index of Keywords and Terms

Keywords are listed by the section with that keyword (page numbers are in parentheses). Keywords do not necessarily appear in the text of the page. They are merely associated with that section. Ex.

apples, 1.1 (1) Terms are referenced by the page they appear on. Ex. apples, 1

A

accreditation, 1.4(28) Alford, 3.1(93)

C

Creighton, (1), 3.7(137)

D

Dembowski, 1.1(7), 1.5(36) Department Chair, 3.6(132) dissertations, 2.5(82) Doctoral Issues, (1), 1.1(7)

Doctoral Program Issues, (3), 1.3(22),

1.5(36), 2.1(41), 2.2(50), 2.4(71),

3.1(93), 3.2(100), 3.6(132)

doctoral programs, 1.4(28), 3.5(125) doctoralprogram issues, 3.7(137) doctroal programs, 1.2(9)

E

Ed D, 2.3(61)

Educational Administration, 1.1(7) educational leadership, 1.2(9), 2.3(61),

2.5(82), 3.3(106), 3.5(125)

F

Fauske, 2.4(71)

G

Grady, 2.1(41)

H

Harris, 1.3(22) Hines, 2.2(50)

L

leadership, 3.4(115)

M

mentoring, 3.3(106), 3.4(115)

N

NCPEA, (1), (3), 1.1(7), 1.2(9),

1.3(22), 1.4(28), 1.5(36), 2.1(41),

2.2(50), 2.3(61), 2.4(71), 2.5(82),

3.1(93), 3.2(100), 3.3(106), 3.4(115),

3.5(125), 3.6(132), 3.7(137)

P

Preface, (3)

R

Reitzug, 3.6(132)

T

Tareilo, 3.2(100)

Attributions

Collection: The Handbook of Doctoral Programs: Issues and Challenges Edited by: National Council of Professors of Educational Administration URL: http://cnx.org/content/col10427/1.3/

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Module: "DEDICATION"

By: Theodore Creighton, Carol A. Mullen, Frederick Dembowski, Sandra Harris URL: http://cnx.org/content/m14571/1.3/

Pages: 1-2

Copyright: Theodore Creighton, Carol A. Mullen, Frederick Dembowski, Sandra Harris License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Module: "PREFACE"

By: Carol A. Mullen, Theodore Creighton, Frederick Dembowski, Sandra Harris URL: http://cnx.org/content/m14579/1.1/

Pages: 3-5

Copyright: Carol A. Mullen, Theodore Creighton, Frederick Dembowski, Sandra Harris License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Module: "AN EMPIRICAL DESCRIPTION OF DOCTORAL PROGRAMS IN EDUCATIONAL LEAD-ERSHIP"

By: Frederick Dembowski

URL: http://cnx.org/content/m14577/1.1/

Pages: 7-9

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Module: "Cohort Doctoral Preparation Programs: Neo-Institutional Perspectives"

By: Joe Donaldson, George J. Petersen, Ph.D.

URL: http://cnx.org/content/m14518/1.1/

Pages: 9-22

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Module: "REFLECTIONS ON THE FIRST 2 YEARS OF A DOCTORAL PROGRAM IN EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP"

By: Sandra Harris

URL: http://cnx.org/content/m14575/1.1/

Pages: 22-28

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Module: "Doctoral Program Issues: Accreditation of Programs"

By: Beverly Irby, Frederick C. Lunenburg URL: http://cnx.org/content/m14599/1.3/

Pages: 28-36

Module: "INNOVATIONS IN EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP DOCTORAL PROGRAMS"

By: Frederick Dembowski

URL: http://cnx.org/content/m14580/1.1/

Pages: 36-40

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Module: "GUIDING THE DISSERTATION PROPOSAL: A STUDENT ADVOCACY APPROACH"

By: Marilyn Grady, Sharon C. Homan URL: http://cnx.org/content/m14736/1.1/

Pages: 41-49

Module: "THE DOCTORAL DISSERTATION OF EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION: A KNOWL-EDGE BASED COMPASS OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT"

By: Mack Hines

URL: http://cnx.org/content/m14581/1.1/

Pages: 50-61

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Module: "Disrupting the Status Quo: The Action Research Dissertation as a Transformative Strategy"

By: Margaret Grogan, Joe Donaldson, Juanita Simmons URL: http://cnx.org/content/m14529/1.2/

Pages: 61-71

Module: "THE QUALITATIVE DISSERTATION: STILL HAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS"

By: Janice Fauske

URL: http://cnx.org/content/m14576/1.1/

Pages: 71-81

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Module: "Doctoral Program Issues: Commentary on Companion Dissertations"

By: James McNamara, Rafael Lara-Alecio, Beverly Irby, John Hoyle, Fuhui Tong URL: http://cnx.org/content/m14542/1.1/

Pages: 82-92

Copyright: James McNamara, Rafael Lara-Alecio, Beverly Irby, John Hoyle, Fuhui Tong License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Module: "TEN YEARS AND COUNTING: SALIENT DOCTORAL PROGRAM DESIGN AND DELIV-ERY PRACTICES IN AN EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP PROGRAM"

By: Betty Alford

URL: http://cnx.org/content/m14572/1.1/

Pages: 93-100

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Module: "THE ROAD TO SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETING DOCTORAL STUDIES: A TALE OF A COHORT MODEL"

By: Janet Tareilo

URL: http://cnx.org/content/m14600/1.1/

Pages: 100-106

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Module: "Confessions of a Doctoral Supervisor: Valuing Interdependence Rooted in a Mentoring Creed"

By: Carol A. Mullen

URL: http://cnx.org/content/m14517/1.3/

Pages: 106-115

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Module: "Mentoring Doctoral Students: The Need for a Pedagogy"

By: Theodore Creighton, David Parks, Linda Creighton URL: http://cnx.org/content/m14516/1.3/

Pages: 115-125

Module: "Attraction and Selection of Applicants for a Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership"

By: I. Young

URL: http://cnx.org/content/m14526/1.1/

Pages: 125-131 Copyright: I. Young

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Module: "STRIVING FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE AND COMMUNITY: THE PERSONAL REFLECTIONS OF A DEPARTMENT CHAIR"

By: Ulrich Reitzug

URL: http://cnx.org/content/m14598/1.1/

Pages: 132-137

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Module: "CONCLUSION"

By: Carol A. Mullen, Theodore Creighton, Frederick Dembowski, Sandra Harris URL: http://cnx.org/content/m14578/1.1/

Pages: 137-138

Copyright: Carol A. Mullen, Theodore Creighton, Frederick Dembowski, Sandra Harris License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

leadership and administration, and to enhance the capability and ecacy of university programs. We are fo-cused on developing better methods of pedagogy and instruction to help bring about more eective academic and professional development programs for all doctoral students and faculty in educational administration.

Finally, we strive to create more eective pathways and networks for exchanging new understandings and viable strategies among persons working to advance educational administration. The contributors collec-tively address numerous areas of the eld related to the theme of better preparing school leaders in doc-toral programs. Some of the specic topics include program accreditation, design and delivery, innovations in educational leadership, curricular and instructional improvement, dissertation conventions and writing, self-reection and professional growth, social justice in leadership and learning, and mentoring theory and practice.

About Connexions

Since 1999, Connexions has been pioneering a global system where anyone can create course materials and make them fully accessible and easily reusable free of charge. We are a Web-based authoring, teaching and learning environment open to anyone interested in education, including students, teachers, professors and lifelong learners. We connect ideas and facilitate educational communities.

Connexions's modular, interactive courses are in use worldwide by universities, community colleges, K-12 schools, distance learners, and lifelong learners. Connexions materials are in many languages, including English, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Italian, Vietnamese, French, Portuguese, and Thai. Connexions is part of an exciting new information distribution system that allows for Print on Demand Books. Connexions has partnered with innovative on-demand publisher QOOP to accelerate the delivery of printed course materials and textbooks into classrooms worldwide at lower prices than traditional academic publishers.

Dans le document The Handbook of Doctoral Programs: Issues and Challenges (Page 143-149)