Producing change in higher education is not always easy or quick (Kennedy, et al., 2018; Perry, 2014a; Schuster & Finkelstein, 2006; Tierney, 1998). Conferences provide faculty with exposure to new ideas, but that exposure is often not enough to produce programmatic and structural change. In addition to new ideas, faculty must also have the…

Since its inception nine years ago, CPED members have re-envisioned and implemented a new purpose for the professional practice doctorate in education, or Ed.D. This new purpose is grounded in the goal of preparing doctoral students to serve as scholarly practitioners, those who engage community as stakeholders in the process of improving problems…

Limitations of the education doctorate (EdD) and the emergence of professional practice doctorates have influenced those offering the EdD to re-envision, re-define, and reclaim the EdD as the degree of choice for the next generation of educational leaders. Colleges of education faculty members have used the Carnegie Project on the Education…

The educational doctorate (EdD) is being re-envisioned as a distinct professional degree. Today's EdD graduates are envisioned as scholarly practitioners. Given this it may be reasoned these individuals have unique identities comprised of several layers. In this study, we examined how 18 entering students and 17 graduating students from an EdD…

Given continued confusion about the Ed.D.degree, universities affiliated with the Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate (CPED) have re-envisioned it using a set of guiding principles and design features. In this study, we investigated why students and graduates chose to pursue the Ed.D., what and how they learned, how they viewed themselves,…

This action research study involves two cycles of investigation of Research Day an event at the end of each semester where doctoral students share their latest cycle of action research focused on a problem of practice they are facing. The study sought to understand students' perspectives of Research Day in terms of its instructional intention, how…

Recent criticisms of the Educational Doctorate (Ed.D.) have challenged faculty members to create or reform such programs. In response to these concerns, faculty members at a particular institution designed and implemented a new Ed.D. program focused on leadership and innovation. We conducted this action research study in order to examine the…

This case study reveals the development and action research work of a student in a newly designed educational doctorate aimed at preparing scholarly and influential practitioners. Data were gathered from a research journal, field notes, email correspondence, observation, and dissertation work, and analyzed with a constant comparative approach.…

Thanks to the Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate (CPED) newly designed EdD programs are developing scholarly practitioners who have the knowledge, skills, and dispositions they need to resolve the problems of practice they are facing. To achieve this, students are taking core courses and, in many programs, completing an internship, or…

Debates about the education doctorate continue; and, while some individuals focus on the problematic, others work to distinguish this degree from the Ph.D. The author is part of the latter, and in this article I explain how faculty members at one university are using action research as a signature pedagogy to create stewards of practice, that is,…

Dispute about professional doctoral programs in education has increased, with much hinging on the design of educational doctorate (EdD) programs. In this study, the first cohort of graduates responded to a new, innovative EdD program designed to develop them as leaders, scholars, and practitioners. Twenty graduates completed an exit survey, and a…

This manuscript provides insight into a new education doctorate program where action research is taught in core courses and used as signature pedagogy and capstone experience. To contextualize action research in this program, a brief introduction as to how it fits into its mission, goals, and needs is provided. Although this fit carries promises,…