Theory to Practice in Administrator Preparation: An Evaluation Study

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effectiveness of a field-based doctoral program in educational administration on linking theory and research to the improvement of practice. Specifically, the study evaluates the degree and ways in which doctoral student field-based projects and studies completed as an integral part of the University of Utah's field-based Ed.D. program have resulted in program or policy changes in schools or other education-related agencies. This evaluation of the theory-practice emphasis in the University of Utah's Ed.D. program suggests that the program is successfully meeting its central program objective. Study data indicate that approximately one-half to two-thirds of student projects resulted in some sort of policy or program change in educational practice. Projects that resulted in change in local schools, districts or other education-related agencies tended to be either policy adoptions addressing legal and/or personnel administration concerns or instructional program implementations for students and staff. Factors that enhanced the likelihood of a project resulting in a policy or program change were: 1) the student's familiarity with relevant problems of practice; 2) the degree to which students worked closely with other organizational employees in developing and refining the project; and 3) the utility and conceptual/analytical quality of the proposal itself.