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As a person currently doing an EdD at the third best (and third oldest) university in the UK, I find this article to be woefully biased and misleading. It is clear that many people editing this article do not have a lot of experience or knowledge about the topic.
Overall, my general impression is that this article paints the EdD as inferior the PhD. This is not fair, accurate, or helpful to the general readership that uses Wikipedia as a source of information. There needs to be less emphasis on comparing the degree to the PhD. Writers also need to understand that America is not the world. Education systems in other countries approach the EdD and PhD differently. Also, many universities have different requirements for the EdD (just like the PhD). I get the general impression that the people editing this page are not really education scholars. I can say that I am a specialist in this field. PaterEst ( talk) 22:47, 12 April 2012 (UTC)
I am going to write this again. Why is there such a big emphasis on (1) the US perspective on the EdD and (2) comparing the EdD to the PhD? This article started out dealing with the EdD strictly from a US perspective. Is this Ameripedia? I also think that there is way too much comparison with the PhD. It is completely obvious that the people writing this crap do not have an EdD. It looks like a lot of PhD graduate with a lot of bias. PhD-lite? Is this a joke? This article is still very poor in quality. A little disappointing. I have made some edits to remedy these problems. Can we be more responsible? PaterEst ( talk) 22:29, 12 April 2012 (UTC)
I can't edit this page.-- PaterEst ( talk) 15:40, 5 February 2012 (UTC)
I find it interesting how my comments were pushed down.-- PaterEst ( talk) 15:18, 5 February 2012 (UTC)
There is much confusion here concerning the Ed.D. designation, so much so that this article is highly biased.
As college professor in the United States, the Ed.D. is primarily awarded as an honorary degree. Those who receive the title honorarily are, as a matter of custom, not entitled to the title of "doctor".
Beyond honorary appointments, some colleges do award the Ed.D. as a professional alternative to the Ph.D. in education (similar to the DBA vs. Ph.D. in business). The difference is that the professional degree is more applied science, where as the Ph.D. is more theoretical. Typically, the top research universities only hire Ph.D.s as professors, since those universities are primarily focused on research. Teaching schools hire a mix with the Ph.D. graduates as preferred. The reason is that theoretical research typically nets more NSF and other grant money as well as increases the likelihood of publication in an A-list journal. For similar reasons, consulting firms tend to prefer the professional degree graduates.
Because the Ph.D. is more theoretical, it is often the more difficult of the two programs; however, this depends on the specific school and program. In the doctoral heirarchy, however, the Ph.D. is held in higher regard.
It is also worth noting that the Ed.D. degree is the primary "doctorate" granted by many online diploma mills and online universities.
I have several problems with this entry. Firstly, I am earning my EdD from Durham University. Durham University was recently ranked the third best university in the UK -- hardly a diploma mill. I think most people who have earned an EdD from a good university would be very offended to read someone suggest that the EdD is granted mainly by diploma mills. Diploma mills also give out PhDs with the same frequency. These types of comments are absurd. Secondly, the EdD, just like the PhD, means different things in different countries. This article is very biased toward framing the EdD within the American context, and thus a very distorted view of the EdD is presented here. Thirdly, it is difficult to understand why this article starts with distinguishing the EdD from the PhD. I think more sophistication is needed when defining the EdD. Fourthly, arguing that the PhD is more theoretical than the EdD is not true. EdD dissertations can be very theoretical, just as PhD dissertations can be also be very practical depending on the discipline. Fifthly, it is obvious that many of the commentators below have no idea what they are talking about. The EdD is hardly an honorary degree. Columbia University's Teachers College, for example, awards the EdD for most of its programs. In fact, as mentioned in the complete article, Harvard University only awards an EdD for a terminal degree in Education. Sixthly, it is disturbing to read the intellectual snobbery that claims that the EdD is a weaker degree. On what grounds? Empirical evidence in peer reviewed research does not support that view. I guess Wikipedia has a way to go before it can provide reliable information on this topic.-- PaterEst ( talk) 16:52, 29 January 2012 (UTC)
This article very biased and it does a diservice to people who are earning or graduated with an EdD. People usually come first to Wikipedia for initial information. I would like to see more objectivity. I do not have time to do a rewrite. Hopefully, someone who really understands this issue can do it-- PaterEst ( talk) 16:52, 29 January 2012 (UTC)
At Durham University the EdD and PhD have "exact parity of degree status" and they clearly say that:
The EdD thesis is shorter than the PhD thesis at Durham University due to the fact that the EdD has coursework which required research papers whereas the PhD is earned by a single thesis with no coursework. In the end, the word count is virtually the same. This is the case at Durham University and many other universities in the UK.
Interestingly, just to make a point, the EdD at Durham University is also expected to make an original contribution to knowledge:
I wish I had time to clean this entry up. I will depend on others to do so. -- PaterEst ( talk) 17:19, 29 January 2012 (UTC)
Lhakthong, the problem with this article is multifaceted. Just from personal experience, I can tell you that the PhD holders in education are not any more or less qualified to do research or teach than EdD holders. As far as I am concerned, the distinction between EdD and PhD must be made on a case by case basis. Just as the PhD in Education has different requirements at different universities, so does the EdD. The research article that is being used to argue for the difference between EdD and PhD is contested research. It hardly represents a consensus in the field. Furthermore, it is "research" that is must be read in context -- that is to say the American context. In fact, I think citing it as a fact shows poor research skills and misrepresents the subject. The EdD is not the subject of controversy. Many people have it, and many of those people have made significant contributions to the academic literature and professional practice. The EdD is here to stay. There is no sense trying to compare it to a PhD. Need I remind you that the PhD is a rather new innovation from the German educational system? I think the real problem is that PhD holder want to protect status that is being displaced by innovation and change in higher education. The PhD space is being contested and problematized by a wider recognition of what constitutes knowledge, rigor, and power to control educational bureaucracy. This argument is about hegemony and control. It is pathetic. Perhaps my interruption of the hegemonic snooty discourse in this article will cause people to think for a moment what the purpose of the academy is -- to create knowledge. This is not the exclusive preserve of three magical letters known as P-H-D. PaterEst ( talk) 23:40, 15 April 2012 (UTC)
So, if you have an Ed. D, would you be bestowed the title of "Dr. ...."?
Yes, it is a full doctorate that tends to be issued by the school of education within univeristies. No difference, at all, from a PHD
The footnote you reference is confusing. It states that Ed.Ds are only considered "Doctorally Prepared" in the field of education. Duh! Is that not true of PhDs also? One is only "Doctorally Prepared" in their field of study. Also, the cited source for this information is meaningless. The AACSB means nothing outside Schools of Business; thus the AACSB has no standing in the debate surrounding Ed.D credentials.
The comment above is very strange. Doctorally prepared? The EdD is a full doctorate.-- PaterEst ( talk) 16:54, 29 January 2012 (UTC)
I do feel that an Ed.D. requires less research than a Ph.D., although I am aware that some Ed.D. students do perform an equivalent amount of research nonetheless. Looking here [2], for example, the degrees are at different levels ("Each refers to a different level of achievement"), and the Ed.D. is a professional doctorate for practitioners. Another very specific example, from a dept. offering both the Ed.D. and Ph.D. in the same subject, is here [3]: "Both a proposal and a dissertation are required by all doctoral students. PhD students must defend their dissertation during an oral examination." Apparently, Ed.D. students need not defend their dissertation. From NYU again, this program [4] requires 6 more points (credits) of dissertation research and 6 more points of research courses for the Ph.D. than the Ed.D. This is exactly what I am talking about! The Ed.D. often requires a more project-sized investigation. Look here [5] for another example: An Ed.D. requires "the preparation and defense of a dissertation" whereas the Ph.D. requires "preparation and defense of a research dissertation" (emphasis added). These are on the same web page, contrasting the degrees. Look also here [6] and here [7] (same program, Ed.D. vs. Ph.D.); for the Ed.D., "The dissertation may involve research and evaluation and/or development of theory-based curriculum and staff development programs." (i.e., evaluation and development of programs are viable options). Here's a 3-year Ed.D. from the same school [8], showing the clear professional focus. I think it's clear that the Ed.D. requires, asa rule, less research, and allows a more project-based appraoch. I'm sure there are exceptions. JJL 15:44, 13 June 2006 (UTC)
The comment above is not accurate. My EdD requires a oral defense in addition to being subjected to an external examiner. It also depends what country you are in (just like the PhD). These comments ridiculous! PaterEst ( talk) 23:27, 15 April 2012 (UTC)
The comment that Ed.D. candidates are not required to defend their dissertations is incorrect (see Ed.D. Inaccuracies, below).
The comments above are very difficult for me to understand. I am currently doing my EdD at a British University. We have to submit our dissertation to an examination commitee and undergo an oral defense with internal and external examiners. The quality of our academic work is also to the same standard as PhD students. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.204.233.81 ( talk) 10:37, 13 September 2011 (UTC)
Ed.D. Inaccuracies
The statement that Ed.D. candidates are not required to defend their dissertations is incorrect. I have an Ed.D. and work in an environment with many Ph.D.s and Ed.D.s. I also sit on a comprehensive exam committee of an Ed.D. program. I don't think I have ever met an Ed.D. (including myself) that was not required to orally defend his or her dissertation. In a study of Ph.D. and Ed.D. dissertations (Content Analysis of the Ph.D. Versus Ed.D. Dissertation,Winter 1994 issue of Journal of Experimental Education (vol. 62, no. 2), 158-68.) significant differences were not found between dissertations published by the two and the authors concluded that there is little or no difference in academic rigor.
With respect to the footnote indicating that Ed.D.s are only considered doctorally prepared in education, I would consider that inaccurate as Ed.D. programs in psychology are recognized as meeting the licensing requirements for a practicing psychologist in the U.S. (see Pyschology Education in the United States - http://www.ccla.pt/infocenter/estrutura/Psychology.pdf). Thus, Ed.D.s in Psychology are clearly recognized as being doctorally trained in the field of counseling psychology and not education. Other Ed.D. programs focus on competencies in organizational behavior, institution administration, organizational leadership, and educational technology as well as many other areas of focus.
As someone who will hopefully be pursuing a Ph.D. program (Fall 2007 – Higher Education Leadership), I would like to acknowledge a statement that was made by a previous person.
The 'Ed.D. Inaccuracies' author wrote, "Thus, Ed.D.s in Psychology are clearly recognized as being doctorally trained in the field of counseling psychology and not education." Technically - this is a true statement. However, I don’t care for it because most people pursuing that type of program generally end up working in an educational institution upon completion of the degree. That is why it is an Ed.D. in Psychology. An Ed.D. program in educational psychology focuses on how psychology works within the context of education, or its application within an educational institution.
For the past two years, I have spent MANY hours researching Ed.D. and Ph.D. degree programs; primarily looking at the difference between their approaches to, and their application of research. In my experience, I found that most Ed.D. websites in counseling psychology stress the importance of obtaining a job within the field of education (or educational related setting) when they finish their program.
In fact, most university websites are careful to point out that those interested in obtaining a terminal degree in psychology (outside of an educational setting) should pursue either a Ph.D. or Psy.D. I think it is inaccurate to lead readers in believing that one who goes for an Ed.D. in Psychology (with the goal of being a counselor) will be pursuing jobs in the private sector when finished with their degree. Yes, they’ll be certified. No, that’s not generally the degree that one would pursue when leaning towards the private sector.
what type of literacy skills do doctors need??????????????????? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 74.113.132.57 ( talk) 23:03, 3 January 2007 (UTC).
Mad ones. -- 192.154.91.225 ( talk) 19:34, 21 February 2008 (UTC)
Do EdD and PhD graduates have the same status when they are applying for the professor post in the university? Will PhD graduates always have a higher priority? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 221.126.253.120 ( talk) 11:21, 18 February 2007 (UTC).
From the second paragraph onwards the article reads like a piece of propoganda. Don't compare PhD and EdD so much - it seems like this article is more of a defense of the legitimacy of an EdD in the face of claims that PhDs are more glorious, or whatever. If you want to compare the two, find some sources and put this argument in a section of its own. The freddinator 02:32, 10 April 2007 (UTC)
This article needs to be cited throughout. Please add citations as possible, where possible; otherwise, feel free to remove uncited POV. – Freechild ( ¡!¡!¡!¡) 13:15, 5 August 2007 (UTC)
This is unusual in an article like this (compare other articles) and seems to conflict with WP:LIST. I think it should be removed. JJL ( talk) 04:07, 31 July 2008 (UTC)
The WP:NPOV problems do not seem to have resolved very much. The article immediately assumes an offensive posture relative to the PhD and maintains this theme in various places. It also makes statements that, while not outright false, are grossly misleading. For example, "the Ed.D. and Ph.D. are both recognized for appointment as a lecturer or professor in a university" omits the fact that the overwhelming majority in academia hold a PhD. The most glaring omission is the long-established and still ongoing debate about the degree's continued existence, which is well-documented in the literature e.g. Rethinking the EdD, Reclaiming Education’s Doctorates, the ESL report, Deering's 1998 paper (Eliminating the doctor of education degree: It’s the right thing to do. Educational Forum, 62(3), 243–248), various articles in The Chronicle of Higher Education, among many such articles. Respectfully, Agricola44 ( talk) 22:34, 12 February 2009 (UTC).
"Like other doctorates, (e.g., the Ph.D., D.A., D.Sc., and so on), the Ed.D./D.Ed. is a terminal degree and is not recognized by the National Science Foundation (NSF) "as equivalent to the Ph.D.""
The way this reads is that the NSF does not consider a Ph.D. to be equivalent to a Ph.D. I would suggest making the change that I indicated with a strike-through. 96.241.24.246 ( talk) 18:42, 19 January 2010 (UTC)
IP 108 has language in the first paragraph that misrepresents the citations. The lanugage is, "The EdD...is recognized by the National Science Foundation as equivalent to the PhD." Following this are two citations. The first is from the NSF and states that the EdD is a research degree. The second is not from the NSF, but from the Department of Education and says that the NSF claims that the EdD is equivalent to a PhD. This second citation is second-hand information and cannot be used to support the sentence. Further, IP 108 keeps deleting sourced material claiming that the EdD is not equivalent to the PhD. Wikiant ( talk) 14:58, 13 June 2011 (UTC)
Wikiant continually uses information from a few discrete university programs as evidence that the EdD is not equivalent to a PhD. There are numerous empirical studies that show otherwise. The evidence cited in the first paragraph is directly from the Department of Education and the National Science Foundation and is there for descriptive purposes. The National Science Foundation makes very clear that the EdD is a research degree equivalent to a PhD on its Survey of Earned Doctorates. Any discussion from individuals or specific programs is best addressed in the "Differences between an Ed.D. and a Ph.D. in Education" section, where Wikiant previously added "Others claim that the Ed.D. emphasizes a broad scope of knowledge and skills related to the practice of education, whereas the Ph.D. emphasizes more breadth and depth in theory and research methodology than does the Ed.D." — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.7.244.202 ( talk) 01:06, 14 June 2011 (UTC)
A couple of users keep deleting sourced and referenced material without explanation. I'm happy to discuss the pros and cons of the deletion, but simply deleting material isn't acceptable -- particularly when the deletions all involve counter claims to claims being made elsewhere in the paragraph. What you end up with is POV. Wikiant ( talk) 12:50, 28 August 2011 (UTC)
It seems to be just one editor using multiple accounts. One account has already been blocked but he or she has just started using another one. This editor is going to end up banned if he or she continues to edit war without discussion. He or she has been warned multiple times so it's in his or her hands at this point. ElKevbo ( talk) 14:21, 30 August 2011 (UTC)
I assume you are also just one person using multiple accounts. (If you deny this, I can play as you do using different accounts and acting schizophrenic.) All I am trying to do is to return the old version, the one that was there before you added unjustified bias and disdainful comments. The academic status of any degree holders is not evaluated by the degree name but by the capacity to produce a good research. No one in education field will look down upon you at any conference, for instance, only because you have a certain degree. Especially in the education field, as educational studies itself is an applied social science, there is no difference between an Ed.D. and a Ph.D. Also I have seen a number of Ph.D. holders incapable of conducting a good research. The difference in academic status does not lie in the degree appellations, but in actual research works that can really demonstrate a degree holder's capacity. Simply citing others' views is not enough. If you want to spread such a misleading bias, come up with actual data to show the difference in academic status. Goodwillforyou
1) The Redden article says, "A new project to re-envision the education doctorate, or the Ed.D., at 21 universities nationwide grows out of the basic premise that there’s no clear distinction between the Ed.D., in theory the professional practice degree, and the more research-oriented Ph.D. in education." I read that as the project to re-envision the degree grows out of a premise, in part, of the theoretical distinction. That does not mean the project is posing the premise as the theoretical distinction. That would be a misread. The project arises out of the fact that although in theory the two degrees should be different, in practice research has shown they are not; and so they argue we need to re-envision what the Ed.D is so that it can be what it is: different than the PhD. What was in the WP article was not disingenuous. It's what was in the article and is evidenced by their research. From research published in Educational Researcher by Schulman, et.al:
2) Saying "Some have argued" is using weasel words and should be avoided.
3) I'm not sure why you are including some parts of the article and deleting the rest. Whether we like it or not, whether justified or not, the Ed.D is not as respected as the Ph.D. in the United States. It is considered--rightly or wrongly--"Ph.D. lite". From the same published research by Schulman et.al: "This threat forced the faculty to answer questions of purpose that challenged existing structures, including implicit biases that treated the Ed.D. as a 'low-end Ph.D.'" Regardless, the writing was verifiable and should not have been deleted. If you want to balance it out with other research/authoritative sources arguing that ion fact the Ed.D is just as respected as the Ph.D., then add balance, don't just delete verifiable information.-- Lhakthong ( talk) 22:10, 6 November 2011 (UTC)
This has to do with the opening lede statement. The Ed.D. seems to be both. The NSF survey considers it a research degree, but research itself shows that it is a professional practice degree that emphasis research (or just type Ed.D professional degree into Google). To be clear, the NSF survey also considers a Doctorate in Business Administration & Management to be a research degree. This would clearly be different than, say, a Ph.D. in Economics. In practice, research shoes the Ed.D. often varies little from the Ph.D. in education (but it does vary in the way it is advertised: research shows the Ed.D. most often couched in terms of career advancement). This places the Ed.D. somewhere in between the realm of Ph.D. and J.D. Moreover, although in the U.S. there is this seeming ambiguity, in the U.K. the Ed.D. seems to clearly be a professional practice degree that is research-oriented. So, somehow the lede statement needs to reflect all of this, and not just be thrown in one direction (research) or the other (professional practice).-- Lhakthong ( talk) 17:31, 7 November 2011 (UTC)
"both the Ed.D. and the Ph.D. are research-oriented, and the difference in designation originates from whether the university departments in the liberal arts and sciences can coordinate particular sub-fields of educational studies (e.g., a Ph.D. in the economics of education or history of education as opposed to an Ed.D. in second language education)" -- This applies only to Teachers College Columbia University, not to the London Institute of Education. Your inconsiderate scrambling and removing of important information has made the whole page unintelligible and incorrect. Also your edits are unjust and practically wrong in describing Ed.D. as an originally practical degree, because there are "purely research-oriented Ed.D. programs" at Harvard, Columbia, Boston University and Rutgers University, and also because the first Ed.D. degree which was created at Harvard started as a research degree and still is so there. Please return this page to the earlier one, the one we used to have several months ago. Please do not bother with this issue if you have never experienced any Ed.D. program yourself, as you seem to know nothing about the program and nothing about the difference between the Ed.D. and the Ph.D. Your edit is full of outsiders' misinformed bias, which is an origin of all sorts of social vice and discrimination. Please do not spread such unsupported and misinformed basis of discrimination. Zealander1 ( talk • contribs) 05:47, 16 November 2011 (UTC)
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Ph.D.s are not only *social science* degrees. Many fields grant Ph.D.s. This should be deleted.
Jim ( talk) 06:49, 21 November 2011 (UTC)
I think that this history section is relatively good. This is much better than what I first read. We need to head away from comparing the EdD to the PhD and presenting the EdD with an inferior-to-the-PhD spin. I removed the biased language. Can we stick to facts without biased commentary?— Preceding unsigned comment added by PaterEst ( talk • PaterEst ( talk) 23:33, 12 April 2012 (UTC)
I deleted the line discussing the first PhD in Education. This article is about the EdD, not the PhD. As I mentioned in other places, less emphasis should be put on comparing the EdD to the PhD. This is part of the bias elimination that needs to happen with this article. PaterEst ( talk) 22:25, 13 April 2012 (UTC)
Sources for this article are very weak. PaterEst ( talk) 22:28, 13 April 2012 (UTC)
I removed the section in the introduction that used the word "controversy" because that is clearly unqualified biased language. There is no real controversy. Many people have an EdD. Those people have written doctoral dissertation, published articles in scholarly journals, occupy faculty positions at major universities, and there is absolutely no sign that the EdD will be discontinued. In fact, higher education statistics point to the fact that more universities are offering this degree worldwide. I think mention of "controversy" can only be justified in the section on the EdD in America, and that bit should be clearly referenced and discussed to accurately portray Levine's comments that were directed to EdD in educational administration. On this point, it is important to point out that EdDs in the UK, for example, are not used as a stepping stone to administrative positions in the way that it is often the case in America. It is also important to point out that many EdDs have nothing to do with Educational Administration. For example, at Columbia many EdDs are in areas such as TESOL/Applied Linguistics, History of Education, and many other sub-areas in education. Definitely in the UK, if you were to scan the thesis databases from EdD students, one would find that topics are pretty much identical to what you would find in an American PhD thesis. Even when a PhD and EdD are offered by the same faculty in the UK, the only difference would be that the EdD thesis is shorter because prior work has been done in the coursework phase whereas the PhD student would only write a thesis without coursework. Clearly, the people who dominate here are not aware of the differences in the education systems worldwide. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.204.233.110 ( talk) 12:40, 29 April 2012 (UTC)
I don't understand why so much effort has been put into comparing the PhD and the EdD. This page should be written in a similar format to that of other Wikipedia articles on similar doctoral degrees (such as the Doctor of Arts or the Doctor of Modern Languages). Those articles do not contain entire sections trashing those degrees. It is not necessary to quote everyone who has ever spoken out against the Ed.D. The DML degree page, for example, only mentions the PhD once: "It is similar to the Ph.D. and the Doctor of Arts degree in Foreign Languages." The D.A. has a similar introduction: "Like other doctorates, the D.A. is an academic degree of the highest level." It's unnecessary and most likely snobbery to have such a lengthy article on this scary, "controversial" degree. Furthermore, all other articles on specific doctoral degrees list in the introduction that it is a "terminal degree." Why does the Ed.D. not present it as such?
It is also absurd to make such broad generalizations about the Ed.D. This is in no way a "PhD-lite" and just because there are more PhDs in higher education does not mean that an EdD candidate isn't just as qualified or prepared to take on a job in higher learning. In my field of Applied Linguistics, Columbia University offers an excellent EdD program in that field that has produced even department chairs and many other prestigious professors within the United States. I find this article offensive.— Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.73.225.6 ( talk) 15:42, 5 December 2012 (UTC)
I reverted the recent edits, because in general practice, internationally, the Ed.D. is sometimes a research adgree and sometimes a professional degree. It therefore makes no sense to put in the lede the US specific information that the Ed.D. is a research degree on the survey of doctorates because (a) that is only one measure of what the degree is (especially in light of the fact that in practice it is not always a research degree), and (b) different countries impliment the degree differently, and the lede cannot just be a reprudocution of the all the country-specific information in the rest of the article. All of that said, as far as I can tell, the Ed.D. is a terminal degree in every country it is granted, so that makes sense to have in the lede.-- Lhakthong ( talk) 16:45, 9 December 2012 (UTC)
The is a line in the USA section that states some universities offer only the Ed.D and then lists Harvard as an example. However, Harvard is discontinuing their Ed.D. program (see cited claim in History section). Is there another university we can put in its place in that line? For now, I will just put a citation needed tag there.-- Lhakthong ( talk) 15:17, 18 December 2012 (UTC)
This debate is a tremendous disappointment. You would believe that there would be harmony among academics (PhDs and EdDs) who "lived through" the difficult process of completing a doctorate. As a person who completed an EdD, defended a nearly 500 page dissertation complete with foundational theoretical context, involving both quantitative and qualitative research with data collected over a 3 year time period, I can comfortably say - My doctorate was EARNED and compares easily to any PhD program. To belittle and dismiss the EdD as something obtained in a diploma-mill, compared to an honorary doctorate or MBA, more practical and not scholarly research oriented...displays tremendous ignorance and short-mindedness to the many academic programs available. Oh - and by the way...when I finished my EdD, I spent the next 8 monthns helping my father finish his PhD!
The lead section does not even mention Ed.D. as an abbreviation for Doctor of Education, but Harvard Graduate School of Education uses Ed.D., as do many of the reference sources. Ed.D. is used in about four times as many WP articles as EdD, so I think the lead should list Ed.D. before EdD as possible abbreviations. Also, why not use Ed.D. throughout the article? Chris the speller yack 16:29, 26 May 2017 (UTC)
Dmc213 has repeatedly removed Bill Cosby from the "Notable doctors of education" section of this article without any discussion or explanation. They recently wrote that "Cosby's EdD was rescinded when he was convicted, therefore he no longer belongs on the page. Many of Cosby's honorary degrees have been revoked but I cannot find any evidence that his EdD - earned, not honorary - from University of Massachusetts Amherst was also revoked. Am I missing something? If his doctorate has not been revoked, and arguably even if it has, Cosby is indisputably a notable holder of this degree. ElKevbo ( talk) 23:19, 26 May 2022 (UTC)
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As a person currently doing an EdD at the third best (and third oldest) university in the UK, I find this article to be woefully biased and misleading. It is clear that many people editing this article do not have a lot of experience or knowledge about the topic.
Overall, my general impression is that this article paints the EdD as inferior the PhD. This is not fair, accurate, or helpful to the general readership that uses Wikipedia as a source of information. There needs to be less emphasis on comparing the degree to the PhD. Writers also need to understand that America is not the world. Education systems in other countries approach the EdD and PhD differently. Also, many universities have different requirements for the EdD (just like the PhD). I get the general impression that the people editing this page are not really education scholars. I can say that I am a specialist in this field. PaterEst ( talk) 22:47, 12 April 2012 (UTC)
I am going to write this again. Why is there such a big emphasis on (1) the US perspective on the EdD and (2) comparing the EdD to the PhD? This article started out dealing with the EdD strictly from a US perspective. Is this Ameripedia? I also think that there is way too much comparison with the PhD. It is completely obvious that the people writing this crap do not have an EdD. It looks like a lot of PhD graduate with a lot of bias. PhD-lite? Is this a joke? This article is still very poor in quality. A little disappointing. I have made some edits to remedy these problems. Can we be more responsible? PaterEst ( talk) 22:29, 12 April 2012 (UTC)
I can't edit this page.-- PaterEst ( talk) 15:40, 5 February 2012 (UTC)
I find it interesting how my comments were pushed down.-- PaterEst ( talk) 15:18, 5 February 2012 (UTC)
There is much confusion here concerning the Ed.D. designation, so much so that this article is highly biased.
As college professor in the United States, the Ed.D. is primarily awarded as an honorary degree. Those who receive the title honorarily are, as a matter of custom, not entitled to the title of "doctor".
Beyond honorary appointments, some colleges do award the Ed.D. as a professional alternative to the Ph.D. in education (similar to the DBA vs. Ph.D. in business). The difference is that the professional degree is more applied science, where as the Ph.D. is more theoretical. Typically, the top research universities only hire Ph.D.s as professors, since those universities are primarily focused on research. Teaching schools hire a mix with the Ph.D. graduates as preferred. The reason is that theoretical research typically nets more NSF and other grant money as well as increases the likelihood of publication in an A-list journal. For similar reasons, consulting firms tend to prefer the professional degree graduates.
Because the Ph.D. is more theoretical, it is often the more difficult of the two programs; however, this depends on the specific school and program. In the doctoral heirarchy, however, the Ph.D. is held in higher regard.
It is also worth noting that the Ed.D. degree is the primary "doctorate" granted by many online diploma mills and online universities.
I have several problems with this entry. Firstly, I am earning my EdD from Durham University. Durham University was recently ranked the third best university in the UK -- hardly a diploma mill. I think most people who have earned an EdD from a good university would be very offended to read someone suggest that the EdD is granted mainly by diploma mills. Diploma mills also give out PhDs with the same frequency. These types of comments are absurd. Secondly, the EdD, just like the PhD, means different things in different countries. This article is very biased toward framing the EdD within the American context, and thus a very distorted view of the EdD is presented here. Thirdly, it is difficult to understand why this article starts with distinguishing the EdD from the PhD. I think more sophistication is needed when defining the EdD. Fourthly, arguing that the PhD is more theoretical than the EdD is not true. EdD dissertations can be very theoretical, just as PhD dissertations can be also be very practical depending on the discipline. Fifthly, it is obvious that many of the commentators below have no idea what they are talking about. The EdD is hardly an honorary degree. Columbia University's Teachers College, for example, awards the EdD for most of its programs. In fact, as mentioned in the complete article, Harvard University only awards an EdD for a terminal degree in Education. Sixthly, it is disturbing to read the intellectual snobbery that claims that the EdD is a weaker degree. On what grounds? Empirical evidence in peer reviewed research does not support that view. I guess Wikipedia has a way to go before it can provide reliable information on this topic.-- PaterEst ( talk) 16:52, 29 January 2012 (UTC)
This article very biased and it does a diservice to people who are earning or graduated with an EdD. People usually come first to Wikipedia for initial information. I would like to see more objectivity. I do not have time to do a rewrite. Hopefully, someone who really understands this issue can do it-- PaterEst ( talk) 16:52, 29 January 2012 (UTC)
At Durham University the EdD and PhD have "exact parity of degree status" and they clearly say that:
The EdD thesis is shorter than the PhD thesis at Durham University due to the fact that the EdD has coursework which required research papers whereas the PhD is earned by a single thesis with no coursework. In the end, the word count is virtually the same. This is the case at Durham University and many other universities in the UK.
Interestingly, just to make a point, the EdD at Durham University is also expected to make an original contribution to knowledge:
I wish I had time to clean this entry up. I will depend on others to do so. -- PaterEst ( talk) 17:19, 29 January 2012 (UTC)
Lhakthong, the problem with this article is multifaceted. Just from personal experience, I can tell you that the PhD holders in education are not any more or less qualified to do research or teach than EdD holders. As far as I am concerned, the distinction between EdD and PhD must be made on a case by case basis. Just as the PhD in Education has different requirements at different universities, so does the EdD. The research article that is being used to argue for the difference between EdD and PhD is contested research. It hardly represents a consensus in the field. Furthermore, it is "research" that is must be read in context -- that is to say the American context. In fact, I think citing it as a fact shows poor research skills and misrepresents the subject. The EdD is not the subject of controversy. Many people have it, and many of those people have made significant contributions to the academic literature and professional practice. The EdD is here to stay. There is no sense trying to compare it to a PhD. Need I remind you that the PhD is a rather new innovation from the German educational system? I think the real problem is that PhD holder want to protect status that is being displaced by innovation and change in higher education. The PhD space is being contested and problematized by a wider recognition of what constitutes knowledge, rigor, and power to control educational bureaucracy. This argument is about hegemony and control. It is pathetic. Perhaps my interruption of the hegemonic snooty discourse in this article will cause people to think for a moment what the purpose of the academy is -- to create knowledge. This is not the exclusive preserve of three magical letters known as P-H-D. PaterEst ( talk) 23:40, 15 April 2012 (UTC)
So, if you have an Ed. D, would you be bestowed the title of "Dr. ...."?
Yes, it is a full doctorate that tends to be issued by the school of education within univeristies. No difference, at all, from a PHD
The footnote you reference is confusing. It states that Ed.Ds are only considered "Doctorally Prepared" in the field of education. Duh! Is that not true of PhDs also? One is only "Doctorally Prepared" in their field of study. Also, the cited source for this information is meaningless. The AACSB means nothing outside Schools of Business; thus the AACSB has no standing in the debate surrounding Ed.D credentials.
The comment above is very strange. Doctorally prepared? The EdD is a full doctorate.-- PaterEst ( talk) 16:54, 29 January 2012 (UTC)
I do feel that an Ed.D. requires less research than a Ph.D., although I am aware that some Ed.D. students do perform an equivalent amount of research nonetheless. Looking here [2], for example, the degrees are at different levels ("Each refers to a different level of achievement"), and the Ed.D. is a professional doctorate for practitioners. Another very specific example, from a dept. offering both the Ed.D. and Ph.D. in the same subject, is here [3]: "Both a proposal and a dissertation are required by all doctoral students. PhD students must defend their dissertation during an oral examination." Apparently, Ed.D. students need not defend their dissertation. From NYU again, this program [4] requires 6 more points (credits) of dissertation research and 6 more points of research courses for the Ph.D. than the Ed.D. This is exactly what I am talking about! The Ed.D. often requires a more project-sized investigation. Look here [5] for another example: An Ed.D. requires "the preparation and defense of a dissertation" whereas the Ph.D. requires "preparation and defense of a research dissertation" (emphasis added). These are on the same web page, contrasting the degrees. Look also here [6] and here [7] (same program, Ed.D. vs. Ph.D.); for the Ed.D., "The dissertation may involve research and evaluation and/or development of theory-based curriculum and staff development programs." (i.e., evaluation and development of programs are viable options). Here's a 3-year Ed.D. from the same school [8], showing the clear professional focus. I think it's clear that the Ed.D. requires, asa rule, less research, and allows a more project-based appraoch. I'm sure there are exceptions. JJL 15:44, 13 June 2006 (UTC)
The comment above is not accurate. My EdD requires a oral defense in addition to being subjected to an external examiner. It also depends what country you are in (just like the PhD). These comments ridiculous! PaterEst ( talk) 23:27, 15 April 2012 (UTC)
The comment that Ed.D. candidates are not required to defend their dissertations is incorrect (see Ed.D. Inaccuracies, below).
The comments above are very difficult for me to understand. I am currently doing my EdD at a British University. We have to submit our dissertation to an examination commitee and undergo an oral defense with internal and external examiners. The quality of our academic work is also to the same standard as PhD students. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.204.233.81 ( talk) 10:37, 13 September 2011 (UTC)
Ed.D. Inaccuracies
The statement that Ed.D. candidates are not required to defend their dissertations is incorrect. I have an Ed.D. and work in an environment with many Ph.D.s and Ed.D.s. I also sit on a comprehensive exam committee of an Ed.D. program. I don't think I have ever met an Ed.D. (including myself) that was not required to orally defend his or her dissertation. In a study of Ph.D. and Ed.D. dissertations (Content Analysis of the Ph.D. Versus Ed.D. Dissertation,Winter 1994 issue of Journal of Experimental Education (vol. 62, no. 2), 158-68.) significant differences were not found between dissertations published by the two and the authors concluded that there is little or no difference in academic rigor.
With respect to the footnote indicating that Ed.D.s are only considered doctorally prepared in education, I would consider that inaccurate as Ed.D. programs in psychology are recognized as meeting the licensing requirements for a practicing psychologist in the U.S. (see Pyschology Education in the United States - http://www.ccla.pt/infocenter/estrutura/Psychology.pdf). Thus, Ed.D.s in Psychology are clearly recognized as being doctorally trained in the field of counseling psychology and not education. Other Ed.D. programs focus on competencies in organizational behavior, institution administration, organizational leadership, and educational technology as well as many other areas of focus.
As someone who will hopefully be pursuing a Ph.D. program (Fall 2007 – Higher Education Leadership), I would like to acknowledge a statement that was made by a previous person.
The 'Ed.D. Inaccuracies' author wrote, "Thus, Ed.D.s in Psychology are clearly recognized as being doctorally trained in the field of counseling psychology and not education." Technically - this is a true statement. However, I don’t care for it because most people pursuing that type of program generally end up working in an educational institution upon completion of the degree. That is why it is an Ed.D. in Psychology. An Ed.D. program in educational psychology focuses on how psychology works within the context of education, or its application within an educational institution.
For the past two years, I have spent MANY hours researching Ed.D. and Ph.D. degree programs; primarily looking at the difference between their approaches to, and their application of research. In my experience, I found that most Ed.D. websites in counseling psychology stress the importance of obtaining a job within the field of education (or educational related setting) when they finish their program.
In fact, most university websites are careful to point out that those interested in obtaining a terminal degree in psychology (outside of an educational setting) should pursue either a Ph.D. or Psy.D. I think it is inaccurate to lead readers in believing that one who goes for an Ed.D. in Psychology (with the goal of being a counselor) will be pursuing jobs in the private sector when finished with their degree. Yes, they’ll be certified. No, that’s not generally the degree that one would pursue when leaning towards the private sector.
what type of literacy skills do doctors need??????????????????? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 74.113.132.57 ( talk) 23:03, 3 January 2007 (UTC).
Mad ones. -- 192.154.91.225 ( talk) 19:34, 21 February 2008 (UTC)
Do EdD and PhD graduates have the same status when they are applying for the professor post in the university? Will PhD graduates always have a higher priority? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 221.126.253.120 ( talk) 11:21, 18 February 2007 (UTC).
From the second paragraph onwards the article reads like a piece of propoganda. Don't compare PhD and EdD so much - it seems like this article is more of a defense of the legitimacy of an EdD in the face of claims that PhDs are more glorious, or whatever. If you want to compare the two, find some sources and put this argument in a section of its own. The freddinator 02:32, 10 April 2007 (UTC)
This article needs to be cited throughout. Please add citations as possible, where possible; otherwise, feel free to remove uncited POV. – Freechild ( ¡!¡!¡!¡) 13:15, 5 August 2007 (UTC)
This is unusual in an article like this (compare other articles) and seems to conflict with WP:LIST. I think it should be removed. JJL ( talk) 04:07, 31 July 2008 (UTC)
The WP:NPOV problems do not seem to have resolved very much. The article immediately assumes an offensive posture relative to the PhD and maintains this theme in various places. It also makes statements that, while not outright false, are grossly misleading. For example, "the Ed.D. and Ph.D. are both recognized for appointment as a lecturer or professor in a university" omits the fact that the overwhelming majority in academia hold a PhD. The most glaring omission is the long-established and still ongoing debate about the degree's continued existence, which is well-documented in the literature e.g. Rethinking the EdD, Reclaiming Education’s Doctorates, the ESL report, Deering's 1998 paper (Eliminating the doctor of education degree: It’s the right thing to do. Educational Forum, 62(3), 243–248), various articles in The Chronicle of Higher Education, among many such articles. Respectfully, Agricola44 ( talk) 22:34, 12 February 2009 (UTC).
"Like other doctorates, (e.g., the Ph.D., D.A., D.Sc., and so on), the Ed.D./D.Ed. is a terminal degree and is not recognized by the National Science Foundation (NSF) "as equivalent to the Ph.D.""
The way this reads is that the NSF does not consider a Ph.D. to be equivalent to a Ph.D. I would suggest making the change that I indicated with a strike-through. 96.241.24.246 ( talk) 18:42, 19 January 2010 (UTC)
IP 108 has language in the first paragraph that misrepresents the citations. The lanugage is, "The EdD...is recognized by the National Science Foundation as equivalent to the PhD." Following this are two citations. The first is from the NSF and states that the EdD is a research degree. The second is not from the NSF, but from the Department of Education and says that the NSF claims that the EdD is equivalent to a PhD. This second citation is second-hand information and cannot be used to support the sentence. Further, IP 108 keeps deleting sourced material claiming that the EdD is not equivalent to the PhD. Wikiant ( talk) 14:58, 13 June 2011 (UTC)
Wikiant continually uses information from a few discrete university programs as evidence that the EdD is not equivalent to a PhD. There are numerous empirical studies that show otherwise. The evidence cited in the first paragraph is directly from the Department of Education and the National Science Foundation and is there for descriptive purposes. The National Science Foundation makes very clear that the EdD is a research degree equivalent to a PhD on its Survey of Earned Doctorates. Any discussion from individuals or specific programs is best addressed in the "Differences between an Ed.D. and a Ph.D. in Education" section, where Wikiant previously added "Others claim that the Ed.D. emphasizes a broad scope of knowledge and skills related to the practice of education, whereas the Ph.D. emphasizes more breadth and depth in theory and research methodology than does the Ed.D." — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.7.244.202 ( talk) 01:06, 14 June 2011 (UTC)
A couple of users keep deleting sourced and referenced material without explanation. I'm happy to discuss the pros and cons of the deletion, but simply deleting material isn't acceptable -- particularly when the deletions all involve counter claims to claims being made elsewhere in the paragraph. What you end up with is POV. Wikiant ( talk) 12:50, 28 August 2011 (UTC)
It seems to be just one editor using multiple accounts. One account has already been blocked but he or she has just started using another one. This editor is going to end up banned if he or she continues to edit war without discussion. He or she has been warned multiple times so it's in his or her hands at this point. ElKevbo ( talk) 14:21, 30 August 2011 (UTC)
I assume you are also just one person using multiple accounts. (If you deny this, I can play as you do using different accounts and acting schizophrenic.) All I am trying to do is to return the old version, the one that was there before you added unjustified bias and disdainful comments. The academic status of any degree holders is not evaluated by the degree name but by the capacity to produce a good research. No one in education field will look down upon you at any conference, for instance, only because you have a certain degree. Especially in the education field, as educational studies itself is an applied social science, there is no difference between an Ed.D. and a Ph.D. Also I have seen a number of Ph.D. holders incapable of conducting a good research. The difference in academic status does not lie in the degree appellations, but in actual research works that can really demonstrate a degree holder's capacity. Simply citing others' views is not enough. If you want to spread such a misleading bias, come up with actual data to show the difference in academic status. Goodwillforyou
1) The Redden article says, "A new project to re-envision the education doctorate, or the Ed.D., at 21 universities nationwide grows out of the basic premise that there’s no clear distinction between the Ed.D., in theory the professional practice degree, and the more research-oriented Ph.D. in education." I read that as the project to re-envision the degree grows out of a premise, in part, of the theoretical distinction. That does not mean the project is posing the premise as the theoretical distinction. That would be a misread. The project arises out of the fact that although in theory the two degrees should be different, in practice research has shown they are not; and so they argue we need to re-envision what the Ed.D is so that it can be what it is: different than the PhD. What was in the WP article was not disingenuous. It's what was in the article and is evidenced by their research. From research published in Educational Researcher by Schulman, et.al:
2) Saying "Some have argued" is using weasel words and should be avoided.
3) I'm not sure why you are including some parts of the article and deleting the rest. Whether we like it or not, whether justified or not, the Ed.D is not as respected as the Ph.D. in the United States. It is considered--rightly or wrongly--"Ph.D. lite". From the same published research by Schulman et.al: "This threat forced the faculty to answer questions of purpose that challenged existing structures, including implicit biases that treated the Ed.D. as a 'low-end Ph.D.'" Regardless, the writing was verifiable and should not have been deleted. If you want to balance it out with other research/authoritative sources arguing that ion fact the Ed.D is just as respected as the Ph.D., then add balance, don't just delete verifiable information.-- Lhakthong ( talk) 22:10, 6 November 2011 (UTC)
This has to do with the opening lede statement. The Ed.D. seems to be both. The NSF survey considers it a research degree, but research itself shows that it is a professional practice degree that emphasis research (or just type Ed.D professional degree into Google). To be clear, the NSF survey also considers a Doctorate in Business Administration & Management to be a research degree. This would clearly be different than, say, a Ph.D. in Economics. In practice, research shoes the Ed.D. often varies little from the Ph.D. in education (but it does vary in the way it is advertised: research shows the Ed.D. most often couched in terms of career advancement). This places the Ed.D. somewhere in between the realm of Ph.D. and J.D. Moreover, although in the U.S. there is this seeming ambiguity, in the U.K. the Ed.D. seems to clearly be a professional practice degree that is research-oriented. So, somehow the lede statement needs to reflect all of this, and not just be thrown in one direction (research) or the other (professional practice).-- Lhakthong ( talk) 17:31, 7 November 2011 (UTC)
"both the Ed.D. and the Ph.D. are research-oriented, and the difference in designation originates from whether the university departments in the liberal arts and sciences can coordinate particular sub-fields of educational studies (e.g., a Ph.D. in the economics of education or history of education as opposed to an Ed.D. in second language education)" -- This applies only to Teachers College Columbia University, not to the London Institute of Education. Your inconsiderate scrambling and removing of important information has made the whole page unintelligible and incorrect. Also your edits are unjust and practically wrong in describing Ed.D. as an originally practical degree, because there are "purely research-oriented Ed.D. programs" at Harvard, Columbia, Boston University and Rutgers University, and also because the first Ed.D. degree which was created at Harvard started as a research degree and still is so there. Please return this page to the earlier one, the one we used to have several months ago. Please do not bother with this issue if you have never experienced any Ed.D. program yourself, as you seem to know nothing about the program and nothing about the difference between the Ed.D. and the Ph.D. Your edit is full of outsiders' misinformed bias, which is an origin of all sorts of social vice and discrimination. Please do not spread such unsupported and misinformed basis of discrimination. Zealander1 ( talk • contribs) 05:47, 16 November 2011 (UTC)
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Ph.D.s are not only *social science* degrees. Many fields grant Ph.D.s. This should be deleted.
Jim ( talk) 06:49, 21 November 2011 (UTC)
I think that this history section is relatively good. This is much better than what I first read. We need to head away from comparing the EdD to the PhD and presenting the EdD with an inferior-to-the-PhD spin. I removed the biased language. Can we stick to facts without biased commentary?— Preceding unsigned comment added by PaterEst ( talk • PaterEst ( talk) 23:33, 12 April 2012 (UTC)
I deleted the line discussing the first PhD in Education. This article is about the EdD, not the PhD. As I mentioned in other places, less emphasis should be put on comparing the EdD to the PhD. This is part of the bias elimination that needs to happen with this article. PaterEst ( talk) 22:25, 13 April 2012 (UTC)
Sources for this article are very weak. PaterEst ( talk) 22:28, 13 April 2012 (UTC)
I removed the section in the introduction that used the word "controversy" because that is clearly unqualified biased language. There is no real controversy. Many people have an EdD. Those people have written doctoral dissertation, published articles in scholarly journals, occupy faculty positions at major universities, and there is absolutely no sign that the EdD will be discontinued. In fact, higher education statistics point to the fact that more universities are offering this degree worldwide. I think mention of "controversy" can only be justified in the section on the EdD in America, and that bit should be clearly referenced and discussed to accurately portray Levine's comments that were directed to EdD in educational administration. On this point, it is important to point out that EdDs in the UK, for example, are not used as a stepping stone to administrative positions in the way that it is often the case in America. It is also important to point out that many EdDs have nothing to do with Educational Administration. For example, at Columbia many EdDs are in areas such as TESOL/Applied Linguistics, History of Education, and many other sub-areas in education. Definitely in the UK, if you were to scan the thesis databases from EdD students, one would find that topics are pretty much identical to what you would find in an American PhD thesis. Even when a PhD and EdD are offered by the same faculty in the UK, the only difference would be that the EdD thesis is shorter because prior work has been done in the coursework phase whereas the PhD student would only write a thesis without coursework. Clearly, the people who dominate here are not aware of the differences in the education systems worldwide. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.204.233.110 ( talk) 12:40, 29 April 2012 (UTC)
I don't understand why so much effort has been put into comparing the PhD and the EdD. This page should be written in a similar format to that of other Wikipedia articles on similar doctoral degrees (such as the Doctor of Arts or the Doctor of Modern Languages). Those articles do not contain entire sections trashing those degrees. It is not necessary to quote everyone who has ever spoken out against the Ed.D. The DML degree page, for example, only mentions the PhD once: "It is similar to the Ph.D. and the Doctor of Arts degree in Foreign Languages." The D.A. has a similar introduction: "Like other doctorates, the D.A. is an academic degree of the highest level." It's unnecessary and most likely snobbery to have such a lengthy article on this scary, "controversial" degree. Furthermore, all other articles on specific doctoral degrees list in the introduction that it is a "terminal degree." Why does the Ed.D. not present it as such?
It is also absurd to make such broad generalizations about the Ed.D. This is in no way a "PhD-lite" and just because there are more PhDs in higher education does not mean that an EdD candidate isn't just as qualified or prepared to take on a job in higher learning. In my field of Applied Linguistics, Columbia University offers an excellent EdD program in that field that has produced even department chairs and many other prestigious professors within the United States. I find this article offensive.— Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.73.225.6 ( talk) 15:42, 5 December 2012 (UTC)
I reverted the recent edits, because in general practice, internationally, the Ed.D. is sometimes a research adgree and sometimes a professional degree. It therefore makes no sense to put in the lede the US specific information that the Ed.D. is a research degree on the survey of doctorates because (a) that is only one measure of what the degree is (especially in light of the fact that in practice it is not always a research degree), and (b) different countries impliment the degree differently, and the lede cannot just be a reprudocution of the all the country-specific information in the rest of the article. All of that said, as far as I can tell, the Ed.D. is a terminal degree in every country it is granted, so that makes sense to have in the lede.-- Lhakthong ( talk) 16:45, 9 December 2012 (UTC)
The is a line in the USA section that states some universities offer only the Ed.D and then lists Harvard as an example. However, Harvard is discontinuing their Ed.D. program (see cited claim in History section). Is there another university we can put in its place in that line? For now, I will just put a citation needed tag there.-- Lhakthong ( talk) 15:17, 18 December 2012 (UTC)
This debate is a tremendous disappointment. You would believe that there would be harmony among academics (PhDs and EdDs) who "lived through" the difficult process of completing a doctorate. As a person who completed an EdD, defended a nearly 500 page dissertation complete with foundational theoretical context, involving both quantitative and qualitative research with data collected over a 3 year time period, I can comfortably say - My doctorate was EARNED and compares easily to any PhD program. To belittle and dismiss the EdD as something obtained in a diploma-mill, compared to an honorary doctorate or MBA, more practical and not scholarly research oriented...displays tremendous ignorance and short-mindedness to the many academic programs available. Oh - and by the way...when I finished my EdD, I spent the next 8 monthns helping my father finish his PhD!
The lead section does not even mention Ed.D. as an abbreviation for Doctor of Education, but Harvard Graduate School of Education uses Ed.D., as do many of the reference sources. Ed.D. is used in about four times as many WP articles as EdD, so I think the lead should list Ed.D. before EdD as possible abbreviations. Also, why not use Ed.D. throughout the article? Chris the speller yack 16:29, 26 May 2017 (UTC)
Dmc213 has repeatedly removed Bill Cosby from the "Notable doctors of education" section of this article without any discussion or explanation. They recently wrote that "Cosby's EdD was rescinded when he was convicted, therefore he no longer belongs on the page. Many of Cosby's honorary degrees have been revoked but I cannot find any evidence that his EdD - earned, not honorary - from University of Massachusetts Amherst was also revoked. Am I missing something? If his doctorate has not been revoked, and arguably even if it has, Cosby is indisputably a notable holder of this degree. ElKevbo ( talk) 23:19, 26 May 2022 (UTC)