From Curricular Alignment to the Culminating Project: The Peabody College Ed.D. Capstone

The Department of Leadership, Policy, and Organizations (LPO) at Peabody College, Vanderbilt University, recently replaced the conventional Ed.D. dissertation with a team-produced, client-consultant oriented, culminating report. This article describes the purpose and principles associated with the “capstone” project and describes the “fit” between the curriculum and the capstone experience. The chapter also describes the “lessons learned” from the initial cohort of doctoral students and clients who collaborated in the pilot year of capstone projects.