Appalachian's Doctoral Program strives for an organizational structure that serves as a model for students who will eventually have to create, lead, and change educational organizations in the real world. We encourage individual pursuits of knowledge; we discard policies and procedures which hinder effectiveness and communication among participants; we encourage diversity at all levels; we prepare students for a world of constant change; and we value what Lee Shulman calls the "wisdom of practice" that scholarship can evolve from practitioners' sense of right or wrong.
Educators cannot afford to be wedded to one perspective of education. Each new day knowledge bombards us, faster and in greater volume than ever before. Therefore, whatever is said today about doctoral programs and educational leadership, let alone universities, has a good chance of being obsolete in three to five years. What will have a long lasting impact on education is a pattern of creating communities of practice. Professional degree programs are somewhat over one hundred years old. Today, one-fifth of all doctorates awarded are Ed.Ds. Leaders and potential leaders in our educational institutions are drawn back to school in large numbers, partially to renew their communities of practice, to learn from each other, and to test what they have learned in schools.
Dr. Alice P. Naylor, Director
