Memo articulating changes in Warner doctoral programs that took place in 2003

TO:	Warner School Doctoral Students
FROM:	Raffaella Borasi, Dean and Craig Barclay, Associate Dean of Graduate Studies
RE:	New opportunities and changes in the Warner School doctoral programs
DATE:	August 21, 2003

Over the past 2002-03 academic year, the Warner School faculty has begun a review of our doctoral programs that has already led to specific improvements that will be taking place starting with the 2003-04 academic year. In this memo, we would like to summarize the main changes and new opportunities we have agreed upon to date, along with their rationale. We also invite all doctoral students who have not yet finished their coursework, and especially those who are at the beginning of their programs, to discuss with their advisors the potential implications of these new initiatives for their own program; while every doctoral student admitted prior to February 2003 will be able to complete his/her program according to his/her approved program of study, we believe that the changes we have instituted can provide new opportunities everyone should be aware of and capitalize upon.

1. Eliminating the requirement to take two school-wide doctoral core courses prior to the portfolio evaluation
2. Creating a number of new doctoral level courses – some program-specific and some school-wide
3. Requiring all doctoral students to take “Doctoral Research Methods” as a foundation for all other research methods courses, prior to their portfolio evaluation
4. Requiring all doctoral students to take at least one other doctoral level course, as designated by their program, prior to their portfolio evaluation  
5. Moving the portfolio evaluation from May of the first year to the beginning of Fall of the second year for full-time students, and from May of their second year to the beginning of Fall of their third year for part-time students  

In what follows, we provide further information about each of these items.

1. Eliminating the requirement to take two school-wide doctoral core courses prior to the portfolio evaluation
After considerable debate and consultation with the current doctoral students, the Warner School faculty voted to eliminate the existing core courses requirement. While there was agreement that the doctoral core courses were valuable and served important functions, the majority of the faculty felt that the goals these courses were designed to achieve could be better achieved through a combination of doctoral-level program-specific courses and other “cross-programs” experiences. At the same time, we will continue to offer some of the school-wide doctoral core course – both for those students who were admitted prior to February 2003 and choose to complete the “old” requirements, and for those students who continue to be interested in the interdisciplinary learning opportunities these courses can offer – at least over the next two years. More specifically, we have already planned the following offerings:Fall 2003:

• ED 508 Reasoning, Arguments and Explanation (by van Geel) (the “old” Doctoral Seminar A)

• ED 519 Key Ideas in Education: An Interdisciplinary Doctoral Seminar (by Dannefer & Callahan) (the “old” Doctoral Seminar C)

• ED 522 Historical Research Methods (by Gordon) (the “old” Doctoral Seminar D)

2. Creating a number of new doctoral level courses – some program-specific and some school-wide
One of the main motivations behind the decision to eliminate the core courses requirement was the desire to create room for a wider offering of doctoral level courses – both program-specific and focusing on research methodology.In the area of research methodology, we have been able first of all to increase the number of offerings of the current research methods, that is:

• ED 506 Doctoral Research Methods will be offered every year in both Fall and Summer
• ED 507 Qualitative Research Methods will be offered every Spring and every other year also in the summer, starting with Summer 2005
• ED 504 Quantitative Research Methods: General Linear Analysis I will be offered every Fall and in every other year also in the summer, starting with Summer 2004

• ED 505 Advanced Quantitative Research Methods: General Linear Analysis II (Spring 2005)
• ED 527 Advanced Qualitative Research Methods (Fall 2004)
• ED 523 Mixed Research Methods (Spring 2005)
• ED 520 Introduction to Program Evaluation (Fall 2003) + ED521: Advanced Program Evaluation (Spring 2004)
• ED 522 Historical Research Methods (Spring 2005)
• ED 435 Critical Thinking and Professional Practice – a “philosophical” methods course (Spring 2004)

• ED 513 Academic Writing for Educators (offered every Spring and Summer)
• ED 539 Dissertation Proposal Writing Seminar (offered every Spring)

• ED 517 Schooling and Social Justice (by Curren and/or James-Wilson) (Summer 2003 & Spring 2005)
• ED 512 Pedagogies: Classical and New (by Kimball) (Fall 2003)
• ED 516 Designing and Evaluating Professional Development (by Fonzi) (Fall 2003)
• ED 588 Pop Culture and Education: Critical Literacy for New Times (by Low) (Spring 2004)

• EDU 525 Theory and Research in Teaching and Learning (Fall 2003 + 2004)
• EDU 526 Theory and Research in Curriculum and Change (Spring 2004 + 2005)
• EDU 549 Contemporary Learning Theories (Spring 2004)
• EDU 529 Advanced Doctoral Seminar in Teacher Education and Reform (Fall 2004)
• EDU 527 Advanced Doctoral Seminar in Learning and Teaching (Spring 2005)
• EDU 528 Advanced Doctoral Seminar in Curriculum and Pedagogy (Spring 2005)

• EDU 557 Selected Theories of Human Development (Fall 2003)
• EDU 549 Contemporary Learning Theories (Spring 2004)
• EDU 525 Theory and Research in Teaching and Learning (Fall 2003 + 2004)
• ED 560 Research in Cognitive Development (Spring 2005)

• EDU 563 Advocacy, Consulting, and System Change as Counseling Practice (Fall 2003)
• EDU 564 Contemporary Trends in Mental Health Appraisal, Intervention and Research (Fall 2003)
• EDU 555 Advanced Counseling Theory, Research and Practice (Spring 2004)

• EDU 515 Decision Making for Educational Leaders I: Analyzing Problems in Schools and Universities (Spring 2004)
• EDU 516 Decision Making for Educational Leaders II: Making Decisions in Schools and Universities (Fall 2004)
• ED 530 Designing and Conducting Research in Educational Leadership and Policy (Fall 2004)
• EDU 576 Contemporary Policy Issues in Higher Education (Spring 2005)

As the great majority of the courses listed above are either new or developed during the last two years, taken as a whole they truly represent a tremendous effort towards offering new opportunities across all doctoral programs at the Warner School!

3. Requiring all doctoral students to take “Doctoral Research Methods” as a foundation for all other research methods courses, prior to their portfolio evaluation
ED 506 Doctoral Research Methods has long been considered a “foundation course” for all other research methods taken at the doctoral level; yet, some students do not take it until the very end of their program! The new requirement of taking “Doctoral Research Methods” prior to the portfolio evaluation and to any other research method course will ensure a number of valuable outcomes:

1. The content and design of ED 506 will be reviewed and enhanced so as to ensure that it provides a good foundation to educational research and to the other research methods courses offered at the Warner School, and it will help students develop some of the skills expected in the doctoral portfolio review.
2. The other methods courses will also be reviewed in order to eliminate duplication with ED506 and, thus, create more room for more advanced content.
3. In the absence of required school-wide doctoral core courses, participation in ED506 will provide all doctoral students early in their program with an opportunity to interact with colleagues in other programs.

Note that from now on ED 506 will be offered twice, instead of once, a year, thus making it easier for doctoral students to meet this requirement.

4. Requiring all doctoral students to take at least one other doctoral level course, as designated by their program, prior to their portfolio evaluation
With the elimination of the requirement of taking two school-wide doctoral courses prior to the doctoral portfolio evaluation, we needed to ensure an alternative way for doctoral students to develop the skills and produce the kind of scholarly papers expected for this first evaluation. As a result, we continue to expect that doctoral students preparing for their portfolio evaluation would take at least two courses at the doctoral level – ED 506 and another course that is more program specific. Each program will soon determine the set of courses that could meet this requirement and make it available on our Warner School Web site.

5. Moving the portfolio evaluation from May of the first year to the beginning of Fall of the second year for full-time students, and from May of their second year to the beginning of Fall of their third year for part-time students
It came to our attention that the current May deadline for the presentation of the doctoral portfolio was not ideal for several reasons. Most importantly, it did not provide doctoral students with sufficient time to review and reflect on the work accomplished up to that point – one of the main goals of this first assessment. Therefore, we decided to tray to postpone this deadline to early Fall – thus giving students the summer to put together their portfolio and, if needed, take additional coursework. Dates for the next portfolio deadline in Fall 2004 will be announced in the next couple of months.