Public Scholarship and Professional Identity: Mid-Career Educational Leaders' Research Culture Preparation and Perceptions

• In Event: Unique Principal Preparation Models and Lessons Learned

Abstract

Given education policy demands, leadership programs wrestle with questions about how to prepare practicing professionals, who are aspiring leaders, for the consequential use of data. From problem identification to implementation, current leadership preparation must build a culture where research processes are accessible, interpretable, and applicable to education policy implementation practices. The program tensions range from practitioners’ assumptions about data and research to issues associated with the practitioners’ established identities as working professionals differentiated from scholars’ identities. This study extends a longitudinal investigation (2011 through 2015) of one doctoral program’s use of a research internship, as opposed to a job-based clinical experience. The report specifies perceptions of three groups: (a) entry-level doctoral students, (b) internship participants, and (c) PhD candidates.

Authors

• Jane Clark Lindle, Clemson University

• Ellen M Hampshire, Clemson University

• Robert Charles Knoeppel, Clemson University