But I Don't Teach in PK-12
Cultivating Space for Community and Higher Education Professionals in a PK-12 Dominant EdD Program
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5195/ie.2026.568Keywords:
professional students, higher education, social justice, curriculum, education doctorateAbstract
This essay reflects the conversational nature of CPED’s dialogue exchange format, in which we collaboratively explore and respond to shared prompts. We present a discussion to understand how professional students and faculty have worked within our EdD program to relate the content to varied forms of educational practice. Additionally, we asked our students and alumni to consider how they have been informed by the ‘social justice in public schooling’ emphasis of our EdD program and what challenges or successes they have experienced in implementing what they learned into their professional contexts outside PK-12. Insights from our reflective discussion convey that students are proactively adapting content to their own contexts but would benefit from more guidance to integrate ideas across educational settings. They recognized both faculty and peers as learning resources and felt successful in applying a social justice lens to their fields. This essay concludes with recommendations for EdD programs.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Rhia Moreno, Darla Linville, Sharon M. Cosper, Jocelyn Fisher, Sameh Ibrahim, Stacy L. Kluge, Mark Myers

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