Action Research as Signature Pedagogy in an Education Doctorate Program: The Reality and Hope

摘要

Debates about the education doctorate continue; and, while some individuals focus on the problematic, others work to distinguish this degree from the Ph.D. The author is part of the latter, and in this article I explain how faculty members at one university are using action research as a signature pedagogy to create stewards of practice, that is, school leaders who have the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to pinpoint educational problems, design solutions, and create effective change. A content analysis of action research dissertations was used to prove stewardship. I investigated the challenges that sparked students’ actions; the actions they took in response; and the benefits, if any, they gained from this experience.