RESEARCH COURSES FOR THE EDD

WHAT DO STUDENTS NEED TO KNOW TO BE SUCCESSFUL?

Alan Davis

Nancy Leech

University of Colorado Denver

Initial Guiding Questions

What skills and knowledge regarding inquiry and evidence do effective education leaders use?

What skills and knowledge regarding inquiry and evidence do EdD candidates need?

How can these best be acquired and demonstrated in a three-year program of preparation?

Focus Group Findings Leaders don’t conduct research, but they

request and use data presented by others Annual Cycles of Data Collection &

Reporting by schools, school districts, community colleges, universities, state agencies

Evaluation studies addressing priority concerns, new practices

Informal information gathering Research summaries re “best practices”

Using data systems in decision making What questions can be asked of data? Correlation vs causation, alternative

explanations Growth vs Status Interpreting school comparisons Interpreting trends over time Leading vs lagging indicators Disaggregating and “digging down”

Initiating inquiry in response to problems and innovations

Example: K-16 Pipeline Transitions (6th grade, 9th grade, first year

college) Identifying and supporting high risk students Evaluating Ninth Grade Academies Comparing high schools by 9th grade course

failure rates Examining low graduation rates in higher

education Studying core courses, developmental courses

in community colleges and universities

Discussion

What skills and knowledge regarding inquiry and evidence do effective education leaders use?

What skills and knowledge regarding inquiry and evidence do EdD candidates need? Most CPED institutions require a dissertation as a

capstone demonstration Award winning dissertations adhere to 5-chapter

format with formal review of literature, methodology, and findings chapters

Expectation is to conduct empirical research on an applied problem of practice

Implication is course preparation in conceiving and carrying out formal inquiry

Statistical and qualitative methods of data collection, analysis, interpretation

Discussion

How should we strike a balance between inquiry knowledge for leadership Inquiry knowledge to design and carry

out a dissertation

Approach at UCD

Three course sequence beginning summer at end of Year 1

Evaluation and Action Research Course 1: Conceiving a study to guide

decision making and improve practice Course 2: Data collection driven by

evaluation purposes and questions Course 3: Data analysis, arriving at

conclusions from data

Course 1

Conceiving a study to guide decision making and improve practice

Topics include:Development of evaluation and action

research questionsDesigning studies for maximum local impactHow to involve stakeholders in the processSamplingOverview of institution review board process

Course 2

Data collection driven by evaluation purposes and questions

Topics include:Involving stakeholders in designing data

collection tools for maximum local impactDeveloping rich description through

observation, interviewing, focus groups, video, artifacts, and photos; surveys and documents

Introduction to scale constructionAssessing reliability and validity of data

Course 3

Data analysis, arriving at conclusions from data

Topics include:Interpreting and analyzing archival dataCoding dataCommunicating findingsDiscussion of political, ethical bias in

evaluation and ARPresenting data and findings to stakeholders

Discussion

What sequence of inquiry courses will best prepare students to both complete the capstone project successfully and function as effective educational leaders?