Chapter 3: What History Reveals About the Education Doctorate

The education doctorate (EdD) is almost 100 years old. Yet, since its inception at Harvard University in 1920, the EdD has suffered an identity crisis. Often labeled as the “lesser” doctoral degree in education, the EdD has for decades been at the center of debates for and against a professional school of education, the unification of education with arts and sciences, and the autonomy of schools of education (Osguthorpe & Wong, 1993). This periodic concentrated discussion about the purpose and goals of the EdD, however, has done little to explain what this degree is or can become.

In this chapter, I look to the beginning of doctoral study in education and trace the 80-year discussion of the distinctions between the EdD and the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) as a means to understand the roots of confusion and labels that have been applied to the education doctorate (see Table 3.1 for chronological summary). As the end of the chapter considers, the Carnegie Project for the Education Doctorate (CPED) has assumed the charge for reclaiming the education doctorate (Shulman, Golde, Conklin Bueschel, & Garabedian, 2006).