Doctorates rise among school officials

Prompts questions of degree's value

WASHINGTON - A growing number of top school officials across the country hold doctorates, even though some specialists contend the advanced degrees are often too easy to obtain and of questionable value for education leadership.

Questions about the academic credentials of superintendents arose anew after the University of Louisville began an investigation of a PhD in education it granted four years ago to John Deasy, now superintendent in Prince George's County, Md.

Nationally, the percentage of superintendents who hold an education-related PhD or the education doctorate known as an EdD rose from 36 percent in 1992 to about 51 percent in 2006, according to the American Association of School Administrators. Superintendents and many academics say the doctoral programs teach vital management and statistical skills while providing an intellectual challenge.

But critics say the programs mostly provide financial rewards - for the universities that collect tuition and for educators who pick up a credential that helps them earn a higher salary and a doctor title.

"It's a very wise investment. I calculated that I'd almost have to find an oil well in my backyard to have any equivalent return," said James Guthrie, a professor of public policy and education at Vanderbilt University.

"In many places, there's an implied deal: 'You get in, you pay your tuition and we don't work you very hard.' "

On Sept. 10, the University of Louisville announced an investigation of a PhD it awarded Deasy in 2004, two years before he was named head of Maryland's second-largest school system. To get the degree, Deasy wrote a 184-page dissertation on school reform under four Rhode Island superintendents and completed nine credit hours of coursework at the university, in addition to 77 credit hours he transferred from other schools. At issue is whether a waiver of the university's one-year residency requirement was properly granted.

Deasy, who this week announced that he will leave Prince George's early next year for a senior position with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, has said that if the university "made errors in the awarding of the degree, I do hope they rescind it. My responsibility is to do everything I was advised and told to do."

Other superintendents' transcripts have come under scrutiny. On Sept. 3, the board of the Emery Unified School District in California accepted the resignation of a superintendent who reportedly lied about having a doctorate and other degrees. On Sept. 8, a superintendent in New Jersey, James Wasser, said he would stop using the doctor title and give up a $2,500 annual pay raise for a doctorate awarded from a suspected diploma mill.

The value of doctoral programs in education has long been debated. The difference between the EdD and the more research-oriented PhD is often murky. James Cibulka, the president of the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, said administrators and researchers pursue EdDs and PhDs in education, resulting in unfocused programs and what Cibulka called "utter confusion."

He said efforts are underway to sharpen the distinction between the degrees, but the mixture of scholarly and professional students contributed to uneven quality in student work.

A 2007 study by Educational Administration Quarterly found that the number of programs that award education doctorates grew nearly 50 percent from 1993 to 2003, to about 200 nationwide. The bulk of the growth occurred at schools that are not among the country's major research institutions.

Nova Southeastern University, based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., has awarded more education doctorates than any other school for years. During most of the 1990s, the school granted about 250 a year. By 2005, the annual total had risen to nearly 450.