Doctor of Education

The Doctor of Education degree (Ed.D. or D.Ed.), in Latin, Doctor Educationis, is a discipline-based doctorate that prepares the student for academic, administrative, clinical or research positions in education, civil service, and private organizations. The Ed.D. is a terminal degree and recognized by the National Science Foundation "as equivalent to the Ph.D.".

Differences between an Ed.D. and a Ph.D. in Education

Several studies have concluded that the Ed.D. has the same level of academic rigour as the Ph.D. in education Through a 5-year Carnegie Foundation project launched in 2001, Shulman et al. found that, "In reality, the distinctions between the [Ed.D. and Ph.D.] programs are minimal, and the required experiences (curriculum) and performances (dissertation) strikingly similar" (p. 26).

At most colleges and universities in the United States that offer doctorates in education, the college or university chooses to offer an Ed.D. (doctor of education), a Ph.D. (doctor of philosophy) in education, or both. Several of the top schools of education in the United States only offer their doctorates in education as Ed.D.s (e.g., Harvard University), whereas other top schools of education only offer their doctorates in education as Ph.D.s (e.g. Stanford University), and yet other top schools of education choose to offer Ed.D.s for degrees in applied research and Ph.D.s for theoretical research (e.g. UC Berkeley, UCLA, University of Oregon, University of Pennsylvania, etc.). At Teachers College Columbia University and at the Institute of Education, London both Ed.D. and Ph.D. are research-oriented and the difference in designation merely originates from whether Arts and Science Departments can coordinate particular sub-fields of educational studies (e.g. economics of education vs. second language education). Finally, in rare circumstances, a school of education may offer both degrees with an Ed.D. being project-based and a Ph.D. being research-based (e.g. St. Louis University).

Professional prospects

In the United States, the Ed.D. and the Ph.D. in education are both recognized for appointment as a lecturer or professor in a university. It may also be recognized as training for administrative positions in education, such as superintendent of schools, human resource director, or principal.

The effect on a future career will depend on the area of study. In an ESRC-funded report by Professor Ingrid Lunt of the Institute of Education compared the Eng.D., the Ed.D. and the DBA (Doctor of Business Administration). She concluded that:

"The impact of the development of professional knowledge on employment culture varied considerably; for Eng.D. participants there was a major impact, whereas for those on the DBA, the impact was often more personal, developing and enhancing individual consultancy skills; for Ed.D. participants, there appeared to be little impact on employment, though frequently considerable impact for the individuals themselves."

The EdD is generally presented as an opportunity to prepare for academic, administrative or specialised positions in education, favourably placing the graduates for promotion and leadership responsibilities, or high-level professional positions in a range of locations in the broad Education industry. In the UK and Ireland both the EdD and PhD are recognised for the purposes of appointment as a lecturer or professor in universities.

History

When research universities were established in the late 19th century in the United States, they primarily awarded doctorates in the sciences and later the arts. By the early 20th century, these universities began to offer doctoral degrees in the social sciences, which included education. From the very beginning there were divisions between those universities that offered an Ed.D. and a Ph.D. in education.

The first Ph.D. in education was granted at Teachers College, Columbia University in 1893. The first Ed.D. degree was introduced in the United States at Harvard University in 1920. The Ed.D. was added by Teachers College in 1934.

Not long after the creation of doctorates in education, some scholars considered whether doctoral studies should be for professional training, as well as for the preparation of researchers. In light of the controversy, many institutions opted to offer the Ed.D. as the exclusive doctorate within their schools of education, including Harvard University that has created the degree and continues to offer the Ed.D. as a research doctorate comparable to a Ph.D.

In the United Kingdom, the Ph.D. in education was introduced in the 1920s. The first Ed.D. was awarded in England in 1992, at the University of Bristol. Six years later, 29 British universities were offering Ed.D. programs.

United States

In the United States, the Ed.D. tends to be granted by the school of education of universities and is a terminal degree in education. A typical doctorate of education in the United States usually requires several years of course work as a doctoral student achieving generally 15 courses beyond a masters degree, a comprehensive exam, and at its conclusion a dissertation. The dissertation presents the doctoral candidate's research and findings and is submitted for defense to the candidate's dissertation committee (including an advisor/first, second, and third reader and usually limited to five - although varies by institution). Majors within the Ed.D. may include: counseling, curriculum and instruction/curriculum and teaching, educational administration, educational leadership, education policy, educational psychology, educational technology, higher education, or language/linguistics.

Argentina

In the Latin American docta, to get into a Ph.D. program of Education, candidates are required to have a Licentiate or Master's degree in Education.

Australia

In Australia entry requirements for the Ed.D. are similar to the Ph.D. except that the former requires a number of the years professional experience in education or academic life.

Canada

In Canada, the Ed.D. tends to be granted by faculties of education at universities and is a terminal degree in education. Much like the United States and Great Britain, some universities offer the Ed.D. (Simon Fraser University), others offer a Ph.D. in education (McGill University, Queen's University, University of British Columbia), and yet others offer both (University of Toronto, University of Alberta, University of Calgary).

South Africa

In South Africa, following a convention of using Latin in academic designations, the doctorate in education is called Doctor Educationis (D.Ed.) and, like other doctoral degrees in that country, it is entirely a research-based qualification.

United Kingdom and Ireland

In the United Kingdom, the Ed.D. differs from a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Education in that it allows the study of a greater variety of education-related subjects in the first stages of study, focusing on a single topic only at the end. However, both the Ed.D. and Ph.D. are research based degrees demanding the same level of academic rigor. A typical Ph.D. in the United Kingdom usually requires the submission of an approximately 80,000 word thesis; the entire study period would be spent researching the topic and writing the thesis. For an Ed.D., a student might be required to research various topics in the first two years, preparing a 5,000-6,000-word report for each. The last two years would be spent on the thesis, which might be 45,000-50,000 words working out at about the same amount of words overall as a PhD. A key difference between the two forms of doctorate is that the Ph.D. student tends to work alone while the Ed.D. student will initially be part of a learning community although increasingly Ph.D. students are now required to take courses on research methods similar to those taken by EdD students.

In Ireland Ed.D. programs have only recently been introduced and they tend to follow the UK model of initial research modules followed by longer research papers and thesis.

Research by Scott, Lunt, Browne and Thorne (2002) has found that the difference between an Ed.D. and a Ph.D. can be somewhat overstated as students of both tend to follow similar courses of study and to research similar topics.

Suggested reforms

Numerous scholars have suggested future reforms for both the Ed.D. and Ph.D. in education. Shulman et al. argued for a new doctorate for the professional practice of education, which might be called the Professional Practice Doctorate (P.P.D.). This doctoral degree would be for principals, superintendents, policy coordinators, curriculum coordinators, classroom educators, etc. The Ph.D. in education and the Ed.D. are now so closely intertwined, Shulman et al. argued that after the creation of the P.P.D., universities will be able to move forward on improving the research and scholarly components of the Ed.D. and Ph.D. in education.

Arthur Levine argued that the current Ed.D. should be re-tooled into a new professional master's degree, parallel in many ways to the MBA.

David Imig described reforms to the Ed.D. as including more collaborative work involving the analysis of data collected by others. Rather than generating their own data and hypothesis-testing, as Ph.D. students would, a group of Ed.D. students would analyze a specific pool of data from a number of different angles, each writing an individual dissertation on a specific aspect of the data which, when pooled together with the other dissertations, would combine to offer a comprehensive solution to a real-world problem.

Notable people with Ed.D. degrees

• Michael Apple - Professor of Educational Policy Studies, University of Wisconsin
• Bill Ayers - American elementary education theorist, activist, and professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago
• Keith Barton - Professor of Education, Indiana University
• Jill Biden - The wife of the Vice-President of the United States, Joe Biden
• Deborah Britzman - Distinguished Research Professor at York University
• Anthony Bryk - Professor in Organizational Studies, Graduate School of Business, Stanford University
• Bill Cosby - American entertainer, educator, and activist
• Chris Daggett - Independent candidate for governor of New Jersey in 2009
• Wayne Dyer - Self-help advocate and author
• Linda Darling-Hammond - Charles E. Ducommon Professor of Education, Stanford University
• Lisa Delpit - Professor, Florida International University
• Irwin Hyman - Professor, Temple University
• Rita Inos - Northern Mariana Islands educator and politician
• H. S. S. Lawrence - Indian educationist and UNESCO Expert
• Cherry McGee Banks - Professor, University of Washington and editor of the Handbook of Research on Multicultural Education
• Milbrey McLaughlin - David Jacks Professor of Education and Public Policy at Stanford University
• Sharon Feiman-Nemser - Professor, Brandeis University
• Fred Newmann - Professor Emeritus of Curriculum and Instruction, University of Wisconsin–Madison
• Sonia Nieto - Professor Emerita of Language, Literacy and Culture, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
• Thomas Payzant - Professor, Harvard Graduate School of Education and former superintendent of Boston Public Schools
• Neil Postman - American author, media theorist and cultural critic
• Stephen Raudenbush - Professor of Sociology, University of Chicago
• Betty Shabazz - American educator and civil rights advocate and wife of Malcolm X.
• James Shaver - Professor Emeritus, Harvard University, past president of the National Council for the Social Studies
• Jonas Soltis - Professor Emeritus of Philosophy and Education, Teachers College, Columbia University
• Sandra Stotsky - Professor of Education, University of Arkansas
• Ruth "Dr. Ruth" Westheimer - American sex therapist, media personality, and author
• Judith Won Pat - Speaker of the Legislature of Guam
• Markus B. Zimmer - Past President of the International Association For Court Administration

See also

• School of Education
• Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.)
• Master of Education (M.Ed., Ed.M)
• Certified teacher
• Educational Specialist (Ed.S, or Specialist in Education)