The goal in bringing selected institutions together is to create a network that will stimulate each institution's work and provide space for sharing and critique in a national dialogue.

CPED consists of colleges and schools of education that have applied and been invited to join the initiative based on:

• Current college or school reform efforts,
• A demonstrated commitment to the agenda,
• A connection of the pilot or experimental program to other on-going efforts of the school or college,
• A potential for showcasing efforts to others,
• The administrative support and other resources for documentation, engagement and cooperation.

Each CPED institution has assembled a team that includes academics, administrators and graduate students to undertake this journey. This team is committed to:

• Envisioning new ways of preparing professional practitioners for schools and colleges;
• Working collaboratively to design new programs that will enable professional practitioners to function effectively;
• Examining recent advances in the learning sciences and human cognition, statistics and technology, leadership and discipline-based knowledge, and alternative pedagogies

For more information on member roles and responsibilities see the CPED Memorandum of Understanding.

Becoming a Member

To date, two calls for membership have been made, the first in 2006 and the second in 2010. We anticipate another call for membership in 2013.

At present, criteria for membership in the CPED initiative (established with the initiation of the consortium in 2007) has been that institutions are 1) members of the Council for Academic Deans of Research Education Institutions (CADREI); and 2) schools of education.

Comments from Deans of CPED Institutions

The major success of UVM’s involvement in CPED’s Phase I program has been our engagement in the national conversation about Ph.D. and Ed.D. graduate study as well as the opportunity to review our own work here at UVM in the current Ed.D. program using standards from the national framework. Finally, this relationship with CPED has promoted dialogue amongst our faculty about how we can support a two-tiered doctoral program at UVM

-Fayneese Miller, Dean, College of Education and Social Services, University of Vermont

During this first phase of CPED’s work, the USC program has moved from a new experimental effort, first initiated in 2002, to a robust and established program that enrolls a cohort of approximately 150 students per year.

-Karen Symms Gallagher, Dean, Rossier School of Education, University of Southern California

Our work in Phase I of CPED, resulted in a re-engineered Executive Doctorate in district level administration. The program includes a sequenced and aligned curriculum link to our outcomes of conceptual understanding and application, leadership acumen and inquiry-based practice.  Our program components include a signature pedagogy that aligns with a problem-based approach; leadership socialization that includes embEd.D.ed fieldwork and residency requirements; and a focus on disciplined inquiry. Based on our experiences with current doctoral cohorts, we have redesigned the dissertation to be progressive, applied and aligned with the program of study (e.g., leadership of school social systems, leadership of teaching and learning, leadership of change and reform, and disciplined inquiry). 

- Joan K. Smith, Dean, Jeannine Rainbolt College of Education at the University of Oklahoma