The education doctoral programs at NDSU recently have been accepted as a participating member of the Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate. Sponsored by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council of Academic Deans from Research Education Institutions, and funded by the Fund for the Improvement for Post-Secondary Education, the project is a collaborative effort to critically examine the professional doctorate in education, the Ed.D. The CPED project aims to redesign the Ed.D. to better prepare education practitioners in the nation’s schools, colleges and educational organizations, and to better differentiate the degree from the research doctorate in education, the Ph.D.
As participants in the Carnegie project, NDSU’s education doctoral programs have committed to collecting empirical evidence to inform decision making concerning the curriculum in both the Ph.D. and Ed.D. programs in education at NDSU and to evaluate ongoing reform efforts. Program faculty also will have the opportunity to interact with education scholars from the Carnegie Foundation and other leading scholars across the nation to continue dialog concerning the purpose of the professional doctorate. Faculty in the education doctoral programs involved in the project include Chris Ray, principal investigator for the project; Myron Eighmy, education doctoral programs coordinator; Elizabeth Erichsen, Claudette Peterson and Nathan Wood. Additional support for the project is provided by William Martin, head of the School of Education; Virginia Clark Johnson, dean of the College of Human Development and Education; and David Wittrock, dean of the College of Graduate and Interdisciplinary Studies.
Participation in the project follows a yearlong critical review of the education doctoral programs curriculum that has resulted in differentiating NDSU’s Ph.D. and Ed.D. programs and clearly articulating both tracks of the programs. Through the process, the programs’ mission, vision and core values have been updated to better reflect professional standards with an emphasis on content expertise, disciplined inquiry and scholarly disposition. Degree plans for the two program tracks, Institutional Analysis and Occupational and Adult Education, also have been updated to enhance student learning and better achieve program objectives. Participation in the Carnegie project is considered a big step toward achieving national recognition for both of NDSU’s doctoral programs.