Pandemic Pivots: The Impact of a Global Health Crisis on the Dissertation in Practice

Five scholarly practitioners in an educational leadership for social justice doctoral program share their intentional, community-minded pivots during a global pandemic that disrupted their Dissertations in Practice (DiP). Embodying their Ed.D. program’s CPED framework (Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate, 2019), the authors, at varying stages in the dissertation process, sought inventive solutions to COVID-19-related challenges that included the development of a new topic and research questions, adjusting study settings and participant pools, and embracing new methodologies to account for virtual-only approaches. Although uncertain how the global health crises would impact their DiP, by fostering a shared sense of community, the authors became critical friends, supporting each other in their personal, professional, and academic lives. Each narrative highlights the potential of oppositional praxis of threading identities of practice, reflection, and research–to respond creatively to the needs of their diverse research communities with compassion, vision, and agility.

Creating a Culture of Activism in the Education Doctorate

Attempting to combine activism and scholarship would seem natural because most academic research is born out of a deep-rooted desire to change, eradicate, or transform a societal issue. As such, translating research into practice by way of activism would seem conventional for most scholars, because it is “informed by both personal and political values and the need to engage our emotional responses to the world around us” (Derickson & Routledge, 2015, p. 5). However, the elite, “ivory-tower” of the academy is not so accepting of scholar-activists. Perhaps it is because activism places higher education in the cross hairs of the criticisms, critiques, and call-outs that activism seeks to influence. Institutions of higher education have done a mediocre job at cultivating spaces for academics to freely engage in activism, as academics who desire to participate in activism face considerable and specific career-related risks (Flood et al., 2013). Loss of tenure, reduced opportunities for collaboration, decreased funding, isolation, and oftentimes physical threats are but a few strategies used against academics who openly participate in activism. While many activist movements have been birthed on college and university campuses, very few demonstrate a willingness to embrace the causes or individuals involved in these activist movements. As institutions of higher education try to strengthen both the policies and practices related to diversity, equity, and inclusion it is imperative that they also examine the oppressive structures, antiquated hiring practices, and exclusionary curriculum that inhibit the culture of activism from thriving. These three specific areas are the focus for this article.

Parents Pursuing a Doctorate of Education: A Mixed Methods Examination of How Parents Manage the Roles of Student and Parent

Aim/Purpose: Doctoral students who are parents are increasingly more common, particularly in female-dominated disciplines, such as education. This study aims to examine the experiences of parents pursuing an education doctorate Background: This study examines the experiences of doctoral students who are parents and their perceptions of support in order to determine how programs and faculty can better serve students. Methodology: This mixed methods study examines the experiences of 52 doctoral students who were parents or became parents during their doctoral program. Methods includes surveys and interviews. Contribution: Very little published literature focuses on the experiences of both mothers and fathers who are doctoral students. This study is unique in that education doctoral students are generally established professionals with families and career success. Findings: Among participants, 37% were women who became pregnant during the program. While most parents persisted in the program to graduate with a doctorate, several participants, including fathers, discussed their decisions to leave the doctoral program due to family responsibilities. Recommendations for Practitioners: In order to uphold standards for a high-quality doctoral education, while also supporting student-parents, recommendations are presented for both doctoral programs and students. Recommendation for Researchers: Further research is needed on LGBTQ families and single-parent families of lower incomes. Impact on Society: Differences between workloads and barriers to advancement still persist for mothers in comparison to fathers. Future Research: Future research should examine the experiences of fathers more fully.

Creating, Implementing, and Redefining a Conceptual Framework for Mentoring Pathways for Education Doctorate Students

Supporting the proficiencies scholar-practitioners need to be successful in Doctor of Education (EdD) programs typically differ from the needs of traditional doctoral students in other types of programs; however, EdD students may benefit from participating in a mentoring program during the progression of their academic career. Several theoretical and conceptual frameworks that influence mentoring programs exist at the doctoral level despite the lack of research conducted that is specific to EdD degrees. In this article, we review several frameworks that influenced the creation and redesign of the Mentoring Pathways Program, developed explicitly to address the needs of scholar-practitioners attending a midwestern university. Through this process, we developed a Mentoring Pathways Program Model, by exploring the domains of sustainability, networking, and expected outcomes, with each domain enhanced through the foundational disciplines of readiness, self-efficacy, and progress. The development and implementation of the MPP model guides the mentoring approach for our EdD students while allowing for the flexibility to accommodate changing needs and requests. In this article, we present a reflective and responsive practice towards EdD mentor and mentee relationships, which are assessed yearly through surveys, interviews, and focus groups.

Examining cohort models in the education doctorate

Purpose This study aims to present a thematic analysis on cohort-based teaching and learning from four education doctorate degree programs. Recommendations are then presented to other scholars engaging in research on cohort-based, graduate degree programs. Design/methodology/approach Yin’s (2018) embedded, multiple case study approach guided the design of this study. Data collection consisted of three- to four-day site visits to each program and included the following data sources: program documents (e.g. handbooks, syllabi and third-party evaluations), class observations and semi-structured interviews with students, faculty and program directors. Findings This study describes how collaboration and collective learning were key components in each program’s coursework and milestone expectations, arguing that such an emphasis contributed to opportunities for collaboration and collective learning experiences. Originality/value Research has documented a number of outcomes associated with cohort-based programs in terms of group dynamics. The authors examine this quality further by showing how specific structures and practices within each program’s cohort model supported not only peer collaboration but also overall student learning.

An Emerging Framework for the EdD Activist

Increasingly, Ed.D. programs are challenged to produce graduates with the skills and expertise needed to create and foster change in the various educational environments in which they serve. Promoting, and more importantly, preparing the Ed.D. Activist is a theme that was addressed during the October 2019 convening of the Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate (CPED) hosted by the University of South Carolina. As part of the opening convening, the U of SC faculty assisted with surveying the more than 65 CPED-informed programs in an effort to construct a potential framework to guide both new and existing programs within the consortium. The resulting framework highlights two potential profiles for the Ed.D. Activist, 12 considerations that programs should examine, four primary outcomes, and five quality indicators. The framework is representative of the data collected from more than 200 participants and provides a broad, but foundational framework for engaging more deeply in the work of promoting activism amongst Ed.D. graduates.

Approaching EdD Program Redesign as a Problem of Practice

As members of the Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate (CPED), universities across the United States are restructuring EdD programs to better prepare professional practitioners with the practical skills and theoretical knowledge needed to improve the educational environments that they serve. The hallmark of these programs is often the dissertation in practice, a scholarly investigation within which students define a problem of practice and then systematically test solutions to that problem. In this study, we investigate the experiences of university faculty participating in the redesign of an Educational Leadership EdD program who approach the redesign as a problem of practice. Root causes of identified program issues are presented in addition to the changes implemented in the redesigned program to improve upon the problem of practice.