The Trouble with the Ed.D.

This article review examines Arthur Levine's 2005 Educating School Leaders, a report that recommended the elimination of the Ed.D. and the establishment of a new degree, the Master's in Educational Administration. The article review draws attention to the central irony of Levine's report: after chronicling the many ways that schools of education repeatedly fail in their academic and professional mandates, Levine nevertheless entrusts these same schools of education with the design and implementation of a new degree. The article review raises questions about the roles and purposes of universities in the professional preparation of school leaders, and concludes with self-study questions for departments of educational administration reexamining their doctoral programs in educational leadership.