The Activist Educator
Defining EdD-Activism to Promote Equity and Justice
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5195/ie.2025.577Keywords:
EdD activism, social justice, participatory action researchAbstract
In the Fall of 2019, the University of South Carolina hosted the convening for the Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate. In one of the sessions, the faculty of Curriculum Studies (CS) asked participants to share their perspectives on activist profiles, program strategies to support activism, and quality indicator measurements for the development and support of activism. These perspectives were analyzed, and an emerging framework for EdD activists was produced. To develop the framework further based on program-specific needs, a committee was formed, leading to a participatory action research (PAR) study team of a faculty member and graduates of the program to generate a student definition of EdD activism, an EdD activism framework, and course reflections on social justice-related courses in the CS program. This article describes the PAR study’s process, outcomes, cycles of inquiry, lessons learned, and future applications.
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