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About CPED

The CPED Initiative is a national effort that:

  • Seeks: Two, Clear, Distinct, Different Approaches to Doctoral Education
  • Works: Across CADREI Institutions; Collaboratively Develop New Professional Practice Doctorates
  • Uses: NBPTS Assessment Model — Outcomes/ Expectations Focused (Where Applicable)
  • Appreciates: the current efforts of others while engaging in critical examination of the best ways possible for preparing leaders in education

Who We Are

The CPED consortium constitutes member institutions who are committed to working together to undertake a critical examination of the doctorate in education with a particular focus on the highest degree that leads to careers in professional practice.

CPED Leadership

Dr. David Imig, Project Director
DavidImig@cpedinitiative.org

Dr. Jill Perry, Program Director
JillAPerry@cpedinitiative.org

Time Frame

Phase I: Critical Examination

From 2007-2009, the CPED initiative began its work of critically examining the education doctorate across twenty-five member institutions. Participating in bi-annual convenings as well as through on-line discussions and informal meetings, members grappled with big questions that confronted the purpose of the education doctorate as well as the best ways to prepare practitioners.

During this timeframe, consortium members were guided by recent work of the Carnegie Foundation that has focused on pursuit of excellence in doctoral education and professional preparation. Members framed their discussions, examinations and pilot work with a particular emphasis on:

  • The scholarship of teaching
  • The identification of a signature pedagogy to guide the work
  • The creation of laboratories of practice in which future practitioners experiment and undertake best evidence analyses
  • New capstone experiences in which future practitioners can work together to produce outstanding demonstrations of their proficiency

Phase I was organized into three parts:

  1. Conceptual and Design Phase
  • organize intellectual communities around work already underway
  • explore possibilities and challenges of experimental programs
  • document and describe challenges and accomplishments
  • identify central issues that confront education schools in program transformation
  • develop a set of design principles centered around scholarship of teaching, laboratories of practice, signature pedagogies and capstone experiences

  1. Experimental Phase
  • launch new pilot programs or “design experiments”
  • provide and support critical advice from member institutions
  • evaluate and assess challenges and accomplishments

  1. Deliberation and Dissemination Phase
  • work collaboratively to produce new models for all education schools
  • disseminate new knowledge and information to U.S. education schools
  • present findings to organizational stakeholders—NAE, AERA, AACTE, and others

Outcomes from Phase I:

Outcomes include a definition of the education doctorate, a set of guiding principles for the development of professional preparation programs, and a set of outcomes for graduates of CPED-influenced programs.

Phase II: Research and Development — Testing and Refining CPED Outcomes

During the next three years, the CPED consortium has committed itself to a research agenda that will test and refine findings around program development and practitioner outcomes. More information about Phase II will be posted soon.

Sponsorship

“Today, the Ed.D. is perceived as 'Ph.D.-lite.' More important than the public relations problem, however, is the real risk that schools of education are becoming impotent in carrying out their primary missions to prepare leading practitioners as well as leading scholars. The Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate is working to ensure that the academy moves forward on two fronts: rethinking and reclaiming the research doctorate (the Ph.D.) and developing a distinct professional practice doctorate (the P.P.D.), whether we continue to call it an Ed.D. or decide to give it another name.” — Lee S. Shulman, President, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching

“The Council of Academic Deans from Research Education Institutions is pleased to be a partner in the CPED project. Having effective doctoral programs that meet the needs of our multiple constituencies is at the heart of what we do in Schools and Colleges of Education in Research Intensive Universities. As an organization we are committed to working together to help all of our members continue to improve our programs.” — Richard L. Schwab, President, CADREI