Reclaiming the Education Doctorate

“Reclaiming the Education Doctorate: A Guidebook for (re)Designing EdD Programs masterfully navigates the intricacies of reshaping professional practice doctorate programs in education. An indispensable resource, it offers clear strategies for fostering the next generation of Scholarly Practitioners. A must-read for educational leaders and program architects.”

Krishna Bista, EdD, Professor of Higher Education at Morgan State University & Senior Executive Vice President, STAR Scholars, Maryland

“Reclaiming the Education Doctorate: A Guidebook for (re)Designing EdD Programs serves as a beacon for academics seeking to (re)design their approach to preparing the next educational leaders. Advocating for students to emerge as leaders for change, this guide underscores the application of research and inquiry in real-world settings. It uniquely bridges theory with tangible professional practice, stressing approaches and methodologies designed for professional practitioners to merge knowledge with action. This book provides a roadmap for redefining professional excellence, urging faculty to look beyond their traditional preparation and to find resources to teach traditional content in applied and practical ways.”

Joseph W. McNabb, PhD, Professor of the Practice, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts

“Framing the development of an educational doctorate as a professional degree and as an improvement project, Perry guides readers through the design process. Her strategic use of improvement tools provides a model for bringing to life the guiding principles of the CPED Framework and the backward mapping process. Whether you are EdD-curious or already flying the plane while you’re building it, Reclaiming the Education Doctorate: A Guidebook for (re)Designing EdD Programs offers ideas, tools, and strategies that can be used immediately, along with food for thought for the long-term transformation of the education doctorate.”

Sarah J. Zuckerman, PhD, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

“Perry’s book, Reclaiming the Education Doctorate: A Guidebook for Preparing Scholarly Practitioners, emerges as the first complete, step-by-step guide for designing and improving EdD programs. It utilizes the framework of the Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate (CPED), the leading international consortium in the contemporary EdD field, to create a practical guide for faculty members and institutions interested in establishing an EdD program that nurtures scholarly practitioners . . . Reclaiming the Education Doctorate is crafted in an engaging and systematic way, offering comprehensive information and step-by-step guidance for the development of strong and relevant EdD programs.” (Click here to see full review at Impacting Education.)

Excerpt of review in Impacting Education journal (Vol. 9, No. 4), Veselina Lambrev, PhD, University of South Florida

“Dr. Jill Perry masterfully describes the genesis, form, function, and distinct characteristics of the EdD in contrast to the PhD Readers will greatly benefit from wisdom derived from decades of research that Dr. Perry has done about EdD programs through her work with the Carnegie Project on the Educational Doctorate. Drawing from research and collaboration with universities nationwide, this book offers concrete examples, tools for program development, and answers to questions that EdD faculty and students perpetually ask. This book is a gift to the field!”

Dr. Joy Howard, Associate Professor, Educational Leadership, Western Carolina University

“This book is not just another tool for faculty seeking to (re)design their EdD program—it is the complete toolbox with a guide for how to tackle what can seem like an insurmountable challenge. For faculty grappling with questions about the purpose of the EdD and what scholarly practitioners should know and be able to do, these chapters offer myriad resources to help them find answers that meet their students’ needs. Wherever faculty are in their program (re)design journey, this book has the right tools to help with innovative ideas to consider and opportunities for reflection along the way.”

Noelle A. Paufler, Associate Professor, Clemson University

“For the nearly two decades that Jill Perry has been the Executive Director of CPED, she has devoted her extraordinary skill set to creating a platform for generative conversation and productive work about the value and use of an Education Doctorate (EdD) as a degree for working professionals who are scholarly practitioners. In this book, she brings her experience and collective work together as a guide for all interested in designing CPED-inspired EdD programs. The conduct of this important work entails supporting faculty in the necessary organizational change required to effectively distinguish the EdD from the PhD. A must read!”

Joy C. Phillips, PhD, Clinical Professor, Drexel University

“Dr. Perry has written a must-read for anyone who is on a journey to re-design or design an Education Doctorate (EdD) program. Not only do you learn about the “why”, but it also navigates you through the “how” with very helpful resources and tools to guide the “thinking” and reflection process. This is a dynamic combination that serves as a springboard for meaningful conversations and action. A great resource for those interested in engaging in improvement science around the Education Doctorate.”

Dr. Patricia Arter, Dr. Lisa Harris, and Dr. Sherry Hoyle, Winthrop University

“Reclaiming the Education Doctorate provides guidance to university faculty and administrators on transforming the Ed.D. to a professional practice degree. Jill Alexa Perry, executive director of the Carnegie Project on the Educational Doctorate and a professor at the University of Pittsburgh,…provides practical examples, discussion and reflection questions and suggests additional reading to support the redesign. The book differentiates between Ph.D. and Ed.D. programs while justifying the need for both. Although the primary audience is higher education, school district leaders can leverage the book’s content to spark conversations with higher education partners to identify problems of practice that connect to the needs of the school system.”

Excerpt of a School Administrator magazine review (March 2025) by Tiara Booker-Dwyer, senior policy associate, Policy Studies Associates, Owings Mills, MD

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1. Introduction

Chapter 2. Roots of the EdD Problem

Chapter 3. Aiming for The Professional Practice Doctorate

Chapter 4. Backward Mapping Starting with the End

Chapter 5. Dissertation in Practice: Final Exam or Leadership Agenda?

Chapter 6. The Heart of the Program: Curriculum

Chapter 7. Ensuring Student Success Beginning with Admissions

Chapter 8. Support Scholarly Practitioners through the Journey

Chapter 9. Has the Test of Change Worked?

Chapter 10. A Personal Journey

Appendix A. Student Learning Outcomes Demonstrated through EdD Program Curriculum

Appendix B. Use of CPED Design-concepts

Appendix C. CPED Principles as an Evaluative Tool

About the Author

Index

Jill Alexa Perry

Dr. Jill Alexa Perry is the Executive Director of the Carnegie Project on the Educational Doctorate (CPED) and an Associate Professor of Practice in the Educational Foundations, Organizations and Policy at the University of Pittsburgh. Her research focuses on professional doctorate preparation in education, organizational change in higher education, and faculty leadership roles. Currently she is researching the ways EdD programs teach practitioners to utilize research evidence. She teaches and coaches how to teach Improvement Science in EdD programs. Her books include The Improvement Science Dissertation in Practice, The EdD and the Scholarly Practitioner, and In Their Own Words: A Journey to the Stewardship of the Practice in Education.

Dr. Perry is a graduate of the University of Maryland, where she received her PhD in International Education Policy. She holds an MA in Higher Education Administration and a BA in Spanish and International Studies from Boston College. She has over 25 years of experience in leadership and program development in education and teaching experience at the elementary, secondary, undergraduate, and graduate levels in the US and abroad. She is a Fulbright Scholar (Germany) and a returned Peace Corps Volunteer (Paraguay).