Redesigning Professional Education Doctorates

Redesigning Professional Education Doctorates

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Redesigning Professional Education Doctorates Applications of Critical Friendship Theory to the EdD Edited by Valerie A. Storey

REDESIGNING PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION DOCTORATES Copyright Valerie A. Storey, 2013. Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2013 978-1-137-36093-9 All rights reserved. First published in 2013 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN in the United States a division of St. Martin s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world, this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave and Macmillan are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-47214-7 ISBN 978-1-137-35829-5 (ebook) DOI 10.1057/9781137358295 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available from the Library of Congress. A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library. Design by Newgen Knowledge Works (P) Ltd., Chennai, India. First edition: December 2013 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

This book is dedicated to my Critical Friends

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Contents List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Foreword Dean Fayneese Miller ix xi xiii Introduction: Critical Friendship: Facilitating Innovative Doctoral Program Adoption 1 Valerie A. Storey Part I Theory and Action Framework, Opportunities and Threats to the Developing Role of Critical Friendship Groups 1 Critical Friends Groups: Moving beyond Mentoring 9 Valerie A. Storey and Brendan M. Richard 2 Critical Friends: Roles in Doctoral Program Development, Implementation, and Refinement 25 Rosemarye T. Taylor and Nicole Lea Marsh 3 Critical Friends Groups from Afar: Can Long Distance Relationships Work? 47 Alisa Belzer Part II Role of Critical Friends Groups on EdD Program (Re)design 4 Critical Friends Perspectives on Problems of Practice and Inquiry in an EdD Program 63 Deanna Iceman Sands, Connie L. Fulmer, Alan Davis, Shelley Zion, Nancy Shanklin, Rodney L. Blunck, Nancy L. Leech, Ron Tzur, and Maria Araceli Ruiz-Primo

viii CONTENTS 5 CPED as an Incubator for a Clinical Practice Approach to Professional Teacher Preparation at Washington State University: Finding and Promoting Mutual Contexts of Change 81 Richard D. Sawyer 6 Growing Organically: Building on Strengths for Vermont Doctoral Education 103 Colleen T. MacKinnon 7 Redesigning Preparation Programs for Teacher Leaders and Principals 121 Tricia Browne-Ferrigno Part III Applying the Critical Friends Group Model to the EdD Program 8 Critical Friends Groups and Their Role in the Redefinition of the Online EdD in Higher Education Administration at Texas Tech University 145 Stephanie J. Jones 9 Using a Cohort Approach to Convert EdD Students into Critical Friends 161 Edmund Ted Hamann and Susan Wunder 10 Criterion-inspired, Emergent Design in Doctoral Education: A Critical Friends Perspective 177 R. Martin Reardon and Charol Shakeshaft Epilogue 195 Jill A. Perry and Rachael L. Hoffman About the Contributors 217 Index 225

Illustrations Figures 5.1 A Tripartite Model of Educator Preparation 82 5.2 Teacher preparation structures 86 10.1 An early conceptualization of the relationship among proposed program elements 184 10.2 Late-stage, linear conceptualization of key elements of the program 185 Tables 1.1 Mentoring comparison 17 2.1 Cohort One demographics (n=26) 27 2.2 Cohort One employment at time of enrollment in 2010 (n=26) 27 2.3 Reasons for applying to the program: Cohort One (n=26) 39 2.4 Cohort One end of year 1: extent to which the program met their needs (n=23) 41 5.1 CPED blog entry online discussion 88 5.2 Clinical practice 90 5.3 MIT S Program before and after program revision 91 5.4 TL EdD Program before and after program revision 91 5.5 Levels of conceptual thinking in relation to the engagement of action 94 7.1 Teacher Leadership Program scope and sequence 130

x ILLUSTRATIONS 7.2 Comparison of University of Kentucky Principal Preparation Programs 133 10.1 Initial proposed framework for EdD 182

Acknowledgments The author wishes to acknowledge all those colleagues and friends who have contributed in one way or another to the writing of this book. I have learned from critical friends in my own institution; from the Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate (CPED) consortium members; and from participants at conferences both in the United States and the United Kingdom. Specifically, I would like to thank Dr. David Imig and Dr. Jill Alexa Perry, codirectors, CPED, for their continued vision and support as higher education institutions domestically and internationally work to implement innovative professional practice education doctorates. Scarlet Neath at Palgrave Macmillan provided expertise regarding the book s organization and formatting and graduate student, Brendan Richard, assisted with editing.

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Foreword Dean Fayneese Miller We view the doctorate as a degree that exists at the junction of the intellectual and moral. The Ph.D. is expected to serve as a steward of her discipline, dedicated to the integrity of its work in the generation, critique, transformation, transmission, and use of its knowledge. Lee S. Shulman In 2006, Chris M. Golde and George E. Walker edited a book entitled Envisioning the Future of Doctoral Education: Preparing Stewards of the Discipline. The authors of the chapters represented the following disciplines: chemistry, neuroscience, mathematics, English, education, and history. Each author was asked a series of questions including, How ought PhD s be educated and prepared and If you could start de novo, what would be the best way to structure doctoral education in your field to prepare stewards of the discipline? (p. 9). In the two education chapters, one by Valerie Richards and the other by David Berliner, the focus is on what should or possibly could happen in doctoral education programs. While one might argue that the questions raised in the 2006 volume are similar to those raised by Valerie A. Storey in the Redesigning Professional Education Doctorates edited volume, to do so would lead one to miss the nuanced way in which Storey and Richard ask the questions. Instead of focusing on the what if, Storey, along with the chapter writers, use work they have done or are doing as part of their participation in the Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate (CPED) initiative to illustrate the importance of a critical friendship framework for both rethinking how candidates in education professional doctorate programs are prepared and, second, implementing the proposed changes.

xiv FOREWORD Central components in the critical friendship concept for CPED institutions are constructive critique, reflection, and support. At each of the higher education institutions represented in the volume and part of the CPED initiative, faculty engaged in a systematic and constructive critique of their program, and asked, How are we doing preparing professionals who will engage in the practice of education or do research on or about the practice of education? What needs to be in place to ensure that candidates in education doctoral programs are engaged in and practice innovative practice? What structure or mechanism should be in place to support candidates as they prepare for leadership roles in K-12 or higher education? Many questions are asked and several examples are presented as to how some higher education institutions are attempting to address the myriad of challenges that have arisen as well generating new questions yet to be answered. Storey s book is the first look at what higher education could do to better prepare leaders in K-12 and beyond. Instead of attempting to replicate theoretical or empirical-oriented research PhD programs, the focus is on how we improve programs geared toward those who will engage in the practice of education. Shulman, as stated in the earlier quote, sees those with doctorates as serving as stewards. He has proposed that stewards are those who are expected to ensure that programs of education maintain quality and those prepared to work in education have integrity. Some have interpreted this to mean that the faculty and candidates in education be scholars who actively work to generate new knowledge and transform what they know through scholarly writings, teaching, and the application of the knowledge. The authors in this book epitomize what Shulman expected of those in higher education who are preparing leaders in education. They are stewards who are acting as Critical Friends in the development, restructuring, and implementation of high quality professional doctoral programs in education. Those who they prepare to engage in the practice of education are also stewards in that they too are expected to generate new knowledge and use that knowledge to improve leadership in education or innovations in curriculum and instruction. As with the notion of stewardship, I believe the notion of Critical Friends encompasses two roles one that establishes the roles and skills needed to innovate, to generate new knowledge, to serve; and, two, one that is grounded in notions of moral purpose and principles. Although many of the chapter authors focus on the support nature

FOREWORD xv explicit in the notion of Critical Friend, a moral component is implicit in much of what is discussed. As many of the CPED institutions engaged in the work necessary to transform their programs, they did so with a belief that they have a moral obligation to provide a quality educational experience for those whose job it will be to educate our nation s future leaders and workers to prepare those who will become intimately involved in the inner workings of a civil society by virtue of their citizenry. The work to transform programs is hard, especially when there are those who prefer to view and act as though the preparation for work for those who will practice and those who will serve as university-based scholars should be the same. What should be the same are the principles they will be expected to uphold, not the roles they will hold or the expectations associated with the roles. Because the roles and the settings are different, the way we prepare them should be different, in some ways, from a typical PhD program. CPED, by virtue of the fact that there is more than one cohort of colleges of education, serves as the place for the Critical Friends network. It is through CPED that faculty and administrators engaged in the work to rethink and restructure their doctoral programs can receive critiques of and feedback about their plans. Information is shared, qualitative databases built, and new knowledge generated about professional doctoral programs. And, programs are engaging in critical reflection and receiving objective feedback from those involved in similar work in colleges of education. The work itself, in my opinion, suggests a moral responsibility felt by those in colleges of education that extends far beyond the ivy leaden walls of higher education. Storey proposes that the Critical Friends model is far broader, and possibly more appropriate, than mentoring, when involved in rethinking academic programs in higher education. The Critical Friends model is similar to what researchers and scholars do as they begin the work on a new article or book the work is provided to a mentor or colleagues, feedback is solicited, and then shared with others across the profession. The Critical Friend is a trusted colleague who provides objective feedback, identifies challenges and opportunities, and raises more questions questions that should strengthen what one proposes to do or sharpen one s thinking. A mentor is one aspect of the Critical Friends model as it is for the scholar who looks for guidance from a more experienced colleague. The Critical Friend offers both intellectual and moral support.

xvi FOREWORD The culture of higher education is undergoing major changes. It is opportune that colleges of education have begun to rethink its various academic programs, especially its professional practice doctorate, and ask whether or not they are as relevant today as yesterday. Have we held on to a model of the doctorate that is no longer, if it ever was, all encompassing? Are we doing the right thing in the way we prepare those who will do the hard work of educating our children and youth? Are we being morally responsible to those who pay or have their employers pay the higher education bill by making sure they are ready to do the work that is necessary? It is clear from the chapters in this book that the authors feel a moral obligation to continue to improve upon their programs and prepare K-12 administrators who are ready and able to do the work necessary, to think critically, encourage innovation, and provide support to colleagues at the same time. The redesign of professional education doctorate programs, using the Critical Friends model, is reminiscent of the words of Virginia Gildersleeve, a past dean at Barnard College. She said, The ability to think straight, some knowledge of the past, some vision of the future, some skill to do useful service, some urge to fit that service into the well-being of the community these are the most vital things education must try to produce (Gildersleeve, 1959, p. 422). This, I believe, is what those involved with CPED hope to accomplish and what the Critical Friends model, ultimately, is all about. References Gildersleeve, V. (1959). Many a good crusade: Memoirs of Virginia Gildersleeve. New York, NY: Macmillan. Golde, C. M., & Walker, G. E. (2006). Envisioning the future of doctoral education: Preparing stewards of the discipline. Carnegie essays on the doctorate. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.