The Project 

The Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate (CPED) is an international membership organization which guides 21st-century universities in efforts to develop EdD programs, enhancing their practice by promoting academic rigor, practical impact, relevance, and value while providing space for innovation and collaboration across member institutions. CPED supports schools and colleges of education that are committed to rethinking advanced educational leadership preparation through improved doctoral program development. CPED envisions a future where equity-minded educational professionals lead lasting and positive change for the learning and benefit of everyone.

Stewarding the Profession

As the first action-oriented initiative working to distinguish the EdD from the PhD, CPED centers rigorous practitioner preparation as the purpose of the EdD, working across a consortium of over 135 members to learn best practices about this preparation. CPED defines the EdD as the professional doctorate in education that prepares educators to apply appropriate and specific practices, generate new knowledge, and steward the profession.  CPED is leading the charge to transform the Professional Practice Doctorate (EdD) into the degree of choice for educational leaders.

The Knowledge Forum 

As the Knowledge Forum on the EdD, CPED curates resource contributions from the consortium that guide members with their program design and redesign goals. In addition, CPED sponsors Impacting Education: Journal for Transforming Professional Practice (IE), the inaugural peer-reviewed, open-source academic journal of the Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate. 

A wealth of online information is available to members, including 

  • CPED Developed Resources
  • CPED Framework® in Action
  • Program Redesign 
  • Dissertations in Practice
  • Improvement Group Developed Resources
  • Promotional Materials
  • Student-Centered Resources
  • Reports
See the Latest CPED News

Membership

Broad and diverse membership is central to CPED’s success. CPED seeks university members committed to reclaiming and enhancing their Education Doctorate. Annually, CPED invites schools and colleges of education from around the world to join its 135+ member institutions in the work of transforming the EdD into the professional practice doctorate in education. Through professional development opportunities and a wide range of resources, CPED member institutions and their faculty learn to redesign their EdD programs to better serve practitioners while networking with a supportive and resourceful professional community. Benefits of membership include a professional development network that supports schools and colleges of education in EdD program design, annual Convenings, virtual events, resources to access national data, opportunities for collaboration and publication.

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The Framework©

Through a collaborative, authentic process, members of CPED developed a Framework for EdD program design that supports creating quality, rigorous practitioner preparation while honoring the local context of each member institution. The three-part Framework for EdD redesign includes a new definition of EdD, a set of guiding principles for program development, and a set of design concepts that serve as program building blocks. CPED members are often at different phases in the process; as they engage in the consortium, they utilize the Framework© to design/redesign, evaluate, and improve their programs.

SEE THE FRAMEWORK®