1.4 Innovations in educational leadership doctoral programs  (Page 3/4)

Doctoral Practicum III—Implementation&Administration of Organizational Improvements

In this third phase of the practicum, students complete the design, implementation and evaluation of their action research project, and present their results. Topics to be covered include:

• Organizational Improvement – implementation strategies
• Applying concepts of organization theory
• Analyzing Action Research
• Dynamics and complexity of improving an organization
• Specific problems of implementing organizational improvements.

The Qualifying Paper*

In the research course sequence of the collaborative doctoral program offered by Southeastern Louisiana University and the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, the second course in the sequence is entitled “Writing for Research”. This course is designed to prepare the doctoral student to engage in scholarly inquiry and writing, and to prepare them to conduct their action research project and dissertation. Topics include refining writing style, plagiarism and copyrighting, using APA style, conducting literature reviews, the use of electronic databases, and critiquing the research of others. It is expected that students will have knowledge of and skills in the use of computer applications, research and statistics and information literacy prior to beginning this course. The primary outcome of this course is that the doctoral student has the skills and knowledge to design and write a Qualifying Paper.

The purpose of the Qualifying Paper (QP) is to determine, in part, the student's preparation, qualifications and potential to pursue original research in the form of the doctoral dissertation. The QP involves not only an evaluation of the student's ability to apply, analyze, and synthesize the knowledge, skills and professional attitudes developed in doctoral program course work, but it is also an evaluation of the student’s ability to use these competencies in a creative and scholarly manner. The QP allows judgment of the student’s ability to think judiciously and critically about the theoretical, empirical, and practical aspects of a topic related to educational leadership. There are additional competencies that contribute to the determination that the student is appropriately qualified to advance to candidacy as it pertains to the QP. These competencies and skills are further described below.

The Qualifying Paper itself is the report of a substantial review of the literature, approximately 45-60 pages (excluding front and back matter), focusing on a critical analysis of the literature on a student selected topic. The review is both descriptive and evaluative of an area of inquiry of scholarly work done in the past. The review generally identifies the topic, theme, or point to emphasize that evolved as a result of readings. Occasionally a research question is proposed to guide the review. It is not merely a summary of the literature, but a thoughtful and comprehensive analysis and synthesis that places the topic in the context of work in the field. A good review results in synthesizing the literature, formulating conclusions and recommendations, and placing the topic in an updated context of established work in the discipline.