CU Connections

Sands named to Carnegie Project

Deanna Sands, associate dean and professor of the School of Education and Human Development at the University of Colorado Denver, has been named a member of The Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate (CPED) research team that will implement a mixed-methods, multi-case study to document the success of initial efforts to redesign the education doctorate.

The 35-member team includes faculty from CPED institutions who have engaged in the redesign of their own Ed.D. programs and newly appointed CPED Research Fellows who are current students or recent graduates of Ed.D. programs. With a $700,000 grant from the Fund for the Improvement of Secondary Education (FIPSE) 18 teams of two researchers will travel to 21 CPED institutions to gather data that will:

• Document and evaluate change in the organizational structures of a set of graduate schools to accommodate new professional practice degrees (Ed.D.) for school and college leaders.
• Document and evaluate change in the signature learning processes, learning environments, and patterns of engagement of faculty and candidates in Ed.D. programs that participate in CPED.
• Document and evaluate fidelity to a set of guiding principles developed in the first three years of the project.
• Disseminate lessons learned and best practices for the design and implementation of professional practice degrees to a new cohort of graduate schools of education.

CPED, a consortium of 56 institutions, is working to restructure the Ed.D. to make it a more relevant degree for the advanced preparation of school practitioners and professional staff, one that is distinct from the Ph.D.