ABSTRACT
This chapter offers the experience of the Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate (CPED) as both a lesson and an opportunity for Asia-Pacific nations that are proliferating the number of professional education doctorates as a means to meet demands of consumers. In 1921, Harvard University, under the direction of Henry Holmes, created the doctorate of education (EdD), and shortly thereafter, Columbia University adopted the degree. At both of these universities, the purpose of the EdD was to offer a rigorous course of study that would enhance candidates' prior knowledge and skills and better prepare them to lead as school practitioners. People must consider how the broad definition of professional doctorates offered by the US Council of Graduate Schools Taskforce Report on the Professional Doctorate (2007) – "preparation for the potential transformation of that field of professional practice" – contributes to improving the EdD.
