2.1 The doctoral dissertation of educational administration: a  (Page 8/11)

The responses to the third questions indicated that the students’ textbooks and peers influenced them to realize the just and democratic significance of the educational administration. None of the graduates indicated that their professors helped them to arrive at this conclusion. This theme can also be seen in the graduates’ responses regarding the role of the professor in encouraging in the process.

A small percentage of graduates indicated that their professors did encourage them to use their dissertations to promote a just and democratic society. This percentage could account for the number of survey returns that highlighted the use of the dissertation to promote a just and democratic society. This percentage may also strengthen Delamont and colleagues’ (2002) emphasis on the significance of the advisor-advisee relationship in negotiating the process. The results from the study suggest that many of the graduates may not have had close relationships with their advisors. Therefore, they may have not received any encouragement from their professors.

This notion may explain why the responses to the fifth and six questions indicated that most of the graduates were either unaware of or disinterested in the need to apply their dissertation towards promoting justice and democracy in society. Overall, these findings point to the current criticisms of educational administration programs.

Cambron-McCabe and McCarthy (2005) indicated that leadership preparation programs nominally address the social justice issues that will confront today’s school leaders. They further indicated that leadership preparation programs must begin to provide students with a clear understanding of how the underlying values and beliefs of social justice will affect their ability to effect academic and social change in schools. Levine (2005) extended their thoughts with similar interpretations of leadership preparation programs.

In his scathing report “Educating School Leaders”, Levine (2005) condemned leadership preparation programs’ efforts to develop educational leaders. He referred to these programs as “inadequate to appalling” organizations that provide students with meaningless degrees for leading schools. Levine was especially critical of the doctoral programs of educational leadership. He reasoned that these programs should eliminate the EdD Degree. He further indicated that PhD degrees should be only awarded to students who are interested in serving as researchers and scholars in the field.

Because of the qualitative nature of this study, the findings are not generalizable to every doctoral program of educational administration. But they do show that a percentage of our students do not relate the dissertation experience to the fifth and sixth stages of Kohlberg’s (1973) moral development theory. They also reiterate Kohlberg’s (1973) indication of how we move through some experiences with an underdeveloped sense of moral judgment.

Phase III—Moral Solutions

Stage Five: Conscientious Connections