Although research scholarship offers valuable guidance to those hoping to use improvement science in their teaching and practice, it tends to center the perspectives of researchers and EdD program faculty. Less research has focused on the voices of practitioners who use improvement science in their schools and organizations. We draw on sensemaking…

Candidates who pursue a Doctor of Education (EdD) often have a unique set of challenges as these candidates typically hold professional leadership roles in schools, districts, or organizations while taking courses and completing a dissertation. EdD candidates may benefit from participating in a mentoring relationship to gain social, emotional,…

This article describes the incorporation of a pitch presentation early in a Doctor of Education (EdD) program to help pre-candidacy students develop a dissertation in practice topic that has the support of their workplace supervisor in the K-12 or higher education setting. Twenty participating EdD students conducted presentations to…

The purpose of this mixed methods study was to investigate the experiences of practitioner-scholars as they conducted their dissertations amidst the COVID-19 pandemic; the methodology utilized surveys at four time points across a 1-year span. Findings indicated increased impacts as the pandemic progressed, as well as both negative and positive…

This article shares rationales for group dissertations and offers practical descriptions of how they transpire in one Doctor of Education (EdD) program. Drawing on program experiences and data, it considers how group dissertations promote leadership learning and EdD program proposes using Archbald's criteria of developmental efficacy, intellectual…

Schools now face a sea of "evidence"--supposedly validated products, research findings, and test, demographic, and teacher-generated data--that leaders must use. How have recent reforms to educational doctorate (EdD) programs addressed these demands? Case studies of four exemplary EdD programs illustrate how the better ones help…

This study examines students' perceptions of an Educational Leadership Doctoral Program's redesign, based on a multi-criteria framework that informed the program's core values and beliefs to prepare students to: (a) lead learning organizations; (b) engage ethically with the community; (c) advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion; and (d)…

This article investigates how the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) redesigned its three-course instructional leadership strand to operate as a continuous three-semester learning experience that sequenced and emphasized an active learning pedagogy. This accounting elaborates the design and use of this pedagogy to support aspirant leaders in…

The essence of authentic leadership is alignment of actions with an identity grounded in the "true self." Theoretically, achieving such alignment requires self-awareness of discrepancies between current leadership capacity and elements of aspirational identity. Using personal constructs psychology, this study explores evidence that…

The field of educational leadership has also come to recognize the central importance of improving the quality of leadership preparation across leaders' careers, including at the doctoral level, for strengthening equitable teaching and learning in schools. What do doctoral programs that strive to realize such equity goals do? With what results? In…

The purpose of this article is to share the insights gleaned from the literature and our on-the-ground realities teaching practitioners to conduct educational research and evaluation. We focus on four areas we have found most important for teaching practitioner-scholars: (a) giving careful attention to andragogy versus pedagogy, (b) engaging the…

This article investigates a yearlong professional development experience provided to two cohorts within a doctoral program for early career school leaders. Drawing from situated learning theory, we examined one aspect of this program's pedagogy, which centers on the use of field-based application-oriented projects that leaders must take up in…

The quantitative research methods course is a staple of graduate programs in education leadership and administration. Historically, these courses serve to train aspiring district and school leaders in fundamental statistical research topics. This article argues for programs to focus as well in these courses on helping aspiring leaders develop…

In this conceptual article, we draw upon recent literature to describe the theoretical, epistemological, and methodological anchors that can inform a working conception of practitioner-scholarship. We position practitioner-scholarship at the intersection of an individual's work as a practitioner and researcher, wherein a practitioner focuses on…

We examined how end-of-first-year students in a Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate (CPED)-affiliated EdD program were developing professional identities as educational leaders and researchers. Quantitative and qualitative data revealed substantial development of leadership skills, but even greater growth in perceptions of research skills.…