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Professional practice doctorate programs’ purpose is to prepare practitioners in the industry to lead and solve current and future complex problems with the application of research. The authors aim to argue that leadership, critical friends, and engagement of the education community together have the potential to assist in enhancing professional practice doctorate graduates’ outcomes.

From three case studies of redesign and implementations of Ed. D. programs associated with the Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate, the authors discuss how distributed leadership and implementation of contemporary motivational concepts within a university empowers and incentivizes faculty to develop and enhance effectiveness of professional practice doctorates.

The concept of critical friends, those who are not invested in a specific situation, can provide objective and fresh insight and is applied as a reform strategy. Engaging the industry, that is, the education community, to further in‐context experiences for both faculty and graduate students provides not only venues for research and continual updates in the field, but also access to data, participants, and information needed for both doctoral dissertations in practice, but also faculty research. The authors conclude that the three concepts support enhancement of effectiveness of professional practice doctorate programs and accountability for graduates’ impact in the workplace.

The authors’ analyses of two professional doctorate programs generated three themes as important contributors to the (re)design, implementation, and evaluation of the Ed.D.: leaders, critical friends, and the education community. By considering the roles of leaders, critical friends, and the education, a conceptual model can be developed to support success.

Over the course of three years (2010-2013), the Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate (CPED; a Consortium of 86 colleges and schools of education) Phase I institutions were involved in the Fund for the Improvement of Secondary Education mixed-methods, multi-case study. Data were collected from Primary Investigators, and stakeholders involved in the (re) design of a professional practice doctorate in education. At the conclusion of the research study, each institution was the recipient of a Critical Friends (CFs) Response Report. The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into the effectiveness of CFs in supporting institutional change by developing a collaborative environment in Higher Education.

First, the role of CFs, and Critical Friend Group (CFG) protocol is described. Second, analyzed data from CF Response Reports is reviewed. Lastly, recommendations for the application of the conceptual framing of CFs within the academy are discussed.

CF Response Reports reflect application of CFG protocol All CF Response Reports contained examples of both positive and cool feedback. This outcome supports previous research (Curry, 2008; Kuh, 2006; Butler et al., 2011) which suggest the protocol structure helped the CFs to focus in order to be supportive and positive. Fewer reports (12) identified institutional and program challenges. This may be a reflection of the dichotomy between friendship and critique which may lead to tension (Swaffield, 2005). A CF may be more likely to articulate a challenge in a face to face meeting knowing that any ensuing tension can be immediately addressed as opposed to stating the issues on paper with no immediate opportunity for the recipient to respond.

Several limitations of the data deserve attention. First, the data did not allow us to explore the relationship between CFs, actual practice, and doctoral program reform. Another limitation of the data are that it emanates from Phase I CPED institutions only. As such, these CFs may not be generally representative. The study would be strengthened if the work could be extended to include institutions from Phase II and III CPED institutions. As the authors continue to develop the understanding of critical friendship in academia the authors can apply this knowledge to support colleagues in their doctoral program reform and redesign.

Based on this study, it is possible to identify several recommendations that are instructive within a Higher Education context. Organizational change and specifically program (re) design is a complex process, and there is no clear certainty of success. Pragmatically, the impetus for utilizing the CF model should be intrinsic, developed by the institutions themselves. Organizational support, knowledge sharing, and communication is required to enable the CF model to be implemented with fidelity (e.g. presentations, and web site information).

Faculty may feel vulnerable and lacking in support, but the adoption of a CF model enables them to not only see the institution from a different perspective, but also helps them bring the familiar into a new focus. External institutional support can alleviate faculty vulnerability, enhance faculty resilience to in-house challenges, and facilitate institutional collaboration.

This study suggests that the external advocacy of the CF can positively impact change in the academy, and innovative doctoral program design by first fostering individual resilience to encountered challenges, and second enhancing institutional learning through institutional collaboration.

The purpose of this paper is to address the following assertions: first, the Laboratories of Practice (LoP) promotes professional growth. Second, the LoP enhances understanding of program design and delivery. Finally, the LoP has a financial value both to the organization where the LoP took place and to the university. The paper examines the responses of program candidates from two cohorts and the community partners they served to a survey focussed on the LoPs.

In summer 2012, Cohort 1 students and their mentors completed a survey, a milestone paper, and reflective papers. LoP mentors (critical friends (CF)) were invited to give feedback on the LoP and the program candidate. In summer 2013, data were gathered via online surveys, milestone paper, and reflection papers from two program cohorts who experienced a LoP. In total, 48 students participated in the research.

In relation to assertion no. 1, both the community partners’ and the students’ experiences with respect to the LoP made clear that the fieldwork has yielded positive outcomes. Students have found that they were able to draw from the classroom learnings to address the problems of practice in the real world setting. They reflected on lessons learned about themselves as well as the process itself, which sometimes resulted in redefining the problem at hand. Finally, the goals that were accomplished by the students during the LoP experience provided them with immense satisfaction, next steps, and, in some cases, the affirmation of their choice to participate in a professional practice doctorate. In relation to assertion no. 2, LoP data have been used by faculty to refine and improve the program and the LoP experience itself. In relation to assertion no. 3, while field mentors (CF) indicate that the services provided by the students during their LoP were invaluable and provided significant insights and improvements in their workplace, it was a challenge to assign a specific financial value to the LoP.

In terms of the internal validity of the study, it is possible that the findings are weakened due to the reliance on doctoral candidates and their mentors from one professional practice doctorate, and the potential for recall bias. In the future, a longitudinal or multiple source research study would have a much stronger internal validity. In terms of external validity, the study can only be reasonably generalized to doctoral students in professional practice doctorates grounded by CPED principles.

While each LoP is highly individual, the process does require the candidates to reflect on their professional practice and their professional growth. CF facilitate reflection and conceptual thought, thereby developing professional practice. LoPs appear to be of value both to the individual and to their organizational context.

Students’ and LoP employers’ survey responses, established and/or furthered excellent relationships with many community partners, and provided quantifiable evidence of accomplishments.

Many professional practice doctorates are struggling with what a LoP in the field should and could look like and the benefits of a LoP. This is an innovative paper as it explains the development and learning from one program that is becoming identified with its LoP. It is likely that university faculty will be interested in the design of the LoP and the value of the LoP as indicated by the survey results to the student, mentor, faculty, and program.

The purpose of this article is to demonstrate an ethical dilemma in transparency. This is a true story. Names have been changed to protect identities.

Provides a true real life story. A classmate and close friend of the author told her about an ethical dilemma, and they decided it would make a good ethics case for business school students. The paper tells a story about a person having to make a difficult decision, and the way ethics can play out for an individual whose entire career could be at stake because of that decision.

Companies should show more support for whistleblowers even though that can be problematic. It should not be a risk to say what we know and think.

This paper will hopefully make people aware of the problems faced by whistleblowers.

For four years, Valerie Thorpe was Director of Accounting for Taurus Construction. She was fired by the company's owner, Vic Bullard, when she refused to falsify accounting entries. Bullard's directive would have lowered profits, thereby deceiving his business partner and committing tax evasion. Until her firing late in the spring of 2011, Valerie had a few concerns about Bullard's lack of ethics in his business dealings. However, she has not questioned him previously because of her own emotional condition after the unexpected death of her husband. During the spring 2011 semester in graduate school, Valerie was inspired when her classmates recounted their own experiences of resigning from jobs because of unethical managers and owners. Valerie had thought of resigning from Taurus; but, Bullard fired her first. Six months after her firing, Valerie is seriously contemplating whether she should report Bullard's tax evasion to the Internal Revenue Service.

Field Based Research. Interviews with the case protagonist.

The case is suitable for graduate and undergraduate courses in business ethics, accounting ethics, entrepreneurship, income tax accounting and an undergraduate auditing class.

This is a real-life case applying ethical frameworks coverage of which can be challenging as students perceive those theories and frameworks as “dry.”

This paper aims to examine the cultivation of anti-racist practices with pre- and in-service teachers in post-secondary contexts, and the tensions of engaging in this work for equity and justice in urban teacher education.

The paper relies on critical race theory (CRT) and critical whiteness studies (CWS), as well as auto-ethnographic and storytelling methods to examine how black in-service teachers working with a black teacher educator and white pre-service teachers working with a white teacher educator enacted strategies for cultivating anti-racist practices.

Findings indicate that for black and white educators alike, developing critical consciousness and anti-racist pedagogical practices requires naming racism as the central construct of oppression. Moreover, teachers and teacher educators demonstrated the importance of explicitly naming racism and centralizing (rather than de-centralizing) the political project of anti-racism within the current socio-political climate.

In addition to racism, educators’ racialized identities must be centralized to support individual anti-racist pedagogical practices. Storying racism provides a context for this individualized work and provides a framework for disrupting master narratives embedded in educational institutions.

Much has been written about the importance of teachers connecting to students’ out-of-school lives to increase academic achievement and advance educational justice. Strategies for forging those connections include using assets-based practices and linking school curricula to students’ community and cultural identities. While these connections are important, this paper focuses on teachers’ explicit anti-racist practices in urban education.