Student-Cohort Model
The JDP utilizes a student-cohort
model that provides support and builds professional relationships
among peers. This radically new and innovative UCB-CSU
doctoral program is preparing reform-minded leaders to
fill positions as administrators in school districts,
county offices of education, and other school consortia.
The JDP offers the professional preparation
and experience necessary to ensure that graduates are prepared
to address effectively the challenges facing urban school
districts in the U.S. The JDP also prepares reform-oriented leaders
committed to improving the quality of schools in metropolitan
areas and rural districts.
Each annually admitted group of students
admitted to JDP is instructed to function as a distinct
cohort. When graduates make their
way into high-level leadership roles at the school district
level, they will do so having emerged from a program with
a highly interactive community of practice, where information
sharing, spirited debate, and knowledge building is the
norm rather than the exception.
The students have in common the goal of educational reform,
and study and conduct research in a community of like-minded
professionals with whom they can engage in professional
and intellectual exchange during the three years of their
program, and, if the spirit of communitas endures, even
after they have embarked upon their new careers. Another advantage of the cohort model is
that it is consistent with another JDP objective, which
is to encourage students to work on generative and adjacent
thesis research projects.