Purpose: In the USA, as elsewhere, there is an ongoing need to improve quality in higher education. Quality improvement models from business have not been widely embraced, and many other approaches to accountability seem to induce minimal compliance. This paper aims to contend that learning communities represent a viable alternative in the quest…

This article presented a rationale for building partnerships into professional doctoral programs in educational leadership and a description of Saint Louis University's use of partnerships in its redesigned Ed.D. program. Although the program has been implemented, it continues to be a work in progress because of the underlying assumption that the…