“Involvement in CPED afforded us the opportunity to participate in a national conversation about our EdD program. Our EdD program has been completely redesigned to embrace the CPED guiding principles. The program is now designed to improve students' leadership practice, influence the practice of others, and impact the organization's outcomes. Further, the program emphasizes research and theory to inform practice, decision-making, and solutions that result in better organizational and professional outcomes.” 

Grant Hayes, Dean, University of Central Florida 

“CPED reinforces the need for applied research throughout our students' educational program. In Spring 2015, we had an external review that used the CPED principles as a focus. Once we received the review team's feedback, we were able to step back, reassess our degree of fidelity in meeting each principle and then refocus our energies by increasing our emphasis on equity and social justice-related curriculum and learning experiences. The CPED model serves as an important touchstone for our work.” 

Cindy Reed, Dean Emeritus, Kennesaw State University 

“CPED provided me with an incredibly valuable network of colleagues who share the same passion for promoting social justice and developing scholarly practitioners. We were fortunate to join CPED when we were developing an Ed.D. program, and the information learned through the convenings, website, and network significantly influenced the development of our program.  

CPED helps by providing high-quality convenings, ongoing professional development, and a wealth of resources. These resources and events guided the development of our program, including the program evaluation dissertation framework. We are also grateful to Dr. Jill Perry, who is always responsive to inquiries and provides such valuable guidance and support.” 

Christine Harrington, Faculty, New Jersey City University 

“I have been working with CPED for over a decade. The CPED principles have been a guiding force in the construction and reconstruction of the Ed.D. programs I have led and/or supervised. CPED provides us with an unparalleled network of educators who can support us and an organization that is responsive to our needs. For example, the yearly CPED Convening remains one of the most critical ways for the members to practice what our mission is, namely, to strengthen, improve, support, and promote our framework through continued collaboration and investigation. These convenings are so important to my professional well-being that I attend each year with a team of colleagues from my institution. The other ongoing professional development opportunities and continual stream of practical research we can apply to our work makes CPED indispensable to our success.  

What began as a dream of Dr. Lee Shulman, former President of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, has blossomed into and continues to flourish as a national movement, affecting the teaching, scholarship, development, and evaluation of doctoral education focused on the practitioner. The opportunity to network nationally with like-minded colleagues committed to the Ed.D. and its benefits ensures greater accountability and rigor for our work and a sounding board to contribute and receive wisdom from countless fellow educators and their students. Regardless of the status of your program, you will find welcoming professionals whose goal is to ensure that the Ed.D. degree is a beacon for leadership among practitioners.” 

Elizabeth Orozco Reilly, Dean, California State University - Channel Islands 

“CPED brings a community of support to both our faculty and students - a strong foundation upon which we can build a rigorous and applied educational doctorate.  In so many ways - from the design of our conceptual framework to course development and, most recently, the redesign of our comprehensive exam taking an applied approach - allowing students to apply their learning through simulation.  

Attendance at the CPED convening was wonderful and let me know we are "in this together," all working towards a common end goal for our students while experiencing common challenges. CPED also provides a network that we can tap into to seek guidance helping us to stretch our thinking and ways of doing!” 

Lynda Levitt, Faculty, Lindenwood University  

 “CPED represents a deep commitment to scholarly practitioner excellence in the non-negotiable pursuit of equity, diversity, inclusion, and decolonization within and among consortium institutions. Professional learning is leveraged across institutions, further enhancing the strengths of emerging and exemplary EdD programs.  

CPED convenings provide networking opportunities with talented scholarly practitioners deeply committed to their students. EdD students are celebrated. CPED webinars provide well-structured learning on a wide variety of topics immediately applicable to my own instructional practices. CPED colleagues demonstrate a paradoxical combination of tenacity and humility. We laugh. We learn. We lead.” 

Scott Lowrey, Faculty, Western University, Canada   

“I have been faculty in two EdD programs since 2014. In both, CPED provided the blueprint for what we are trying to achieve.  I attend a number of conferences annually-- including AERA, UCEA, and AEA, among others. Most conferences are designed for sharing of scholarly research. While we all use PD funds to travel to these conferences from time to time, CPED is the only convening where it truly feels like professional development in terms of teaching. The learning exchanges provide me with real, concrete strategies that I can take back and implement in my program and in my classroom. Part of the professional development offered through CPED is the networking it facilitates. I will never forget how I collaborated with Megan Bunning, and together we worked through how best to teach statistics to people who had no desire to engage in traditional research. We collaborated on textbooks and pedagogical approaches and eventually shared our learning at CPED!”   

Brandi Hinnant-Crawford, Faculty, Clemson University  

 “The work that we do as professors preparing individuals to become educational leaders is hard work! CPED eases the challenge significantly; we reinforce each other's efforts and inspire one another. Moreover, the institutions represented in CPED are making outstanding efforts at providing socially just leaders; we learn from each other. “ 

Kofi Lomotey, Bardo Distinguished Professor, Western Carolina University 

“Most of the programs in our Watson College of Education enjoy a combined regional accreditation and professional accreditation, which serve to demonstrate the rigor and quality of the programs we offer. Being a member of the CPED is like a professional endorsement since it enables us to collaborate with like-minded colleges of education to share ideas and implement best practices in preparing education doctorates.” 

Chinaka DomNwachukwu, Dean, California State University - San Bernadino 

“At its best, the EdD is the degree through which advanced educational practitioners hone their skills and attend to real-world problems of educational practice—be they practicing high school reading teachers figuring out how to help their students overcome any internalized stigma related to being required to take a reading class in high school, school librarians arguing for the value of their jobs and professional preparation, or teacher-leaders examining how a statewide professional teacher association can help isolated Spanish-as-a-heritage language teachers to network and engage in valued professional development. Universities and colleges of education within them stand to improve educational practice and advance social justice through EdD work. It follows that being part of a professional network devoted to advancing the EdD helps grow the capacity to engage in this work extensively and well. “ 

Ted Hamann, Faculty, University of Nebraska - Lincoln