Study Will Size Up Doctoral Programs for Education Researchers

Two national education groups are launching a first-time effort to assess—and possibly even rank—the hundreds of doctoral programs that prepare education researchers.

The field of education produces an estimated 1,800 doctorates a year, according to the American Educational Research Association, which is overseeing the three-year study with the National Academy of Education, known as NEAD. Such programs, however, have come under scrutiny in recent years, with scholars and policymakers complaining that they suffer from uneven quality and “mission muddle.”

Some of those critics said last week that the new assessment could be a step toward improving the...