Summary of points from the CPEC Study
The Production and Utilization of Education Doctorates for
Administrators in California’s public schools

• 2184 administrators in the public school system hold a doctoral degree (9.1%)
• California institutions produce an average of 490 doctorates each year, with 472 staying in California
• 123 doctorates come to the State’s public school system from out of the state, resulting in 595 new doctorates a year
• Only 28% (167) of the new doctorates are employed in the K-12 public school system
• The number of doctorates produced per year who go to work in the public schools (167) exceeds the roughly 100 to 110 needed to maintain the proportion of administrators in the system with doctorates (the rate of retirement of doctorates is 100 per year)
• Of 160 searches for school superintendents over the last four years, not one district required a doctorate; nor was it required for other educational leaders
• Of the comparison states, California has a lower percentage (9.1%) of administrators who hold doctorates than Pennsylvania (17%), Illinois (13%), and New York (9.9%) and a higher percentage than Florida (6.1%), and Texas (5.8%)
• More females are getting doctorates; the number of males earning doctorates is decreasing
• More Hispanics, Asians and Native Americans are getting doctorates; the number of Whites and African Americans is decreasing
• 70% of the education doctorates are produced by independent and private universities
• Nearly half of doctoral recipients are over 45 years of age