I believe you are referring to the ever-popular doctorate in EDLPS (educational leadership). It's a comparatively soft doctorate designed mainly for administrators and those with administrative ambitions. Because everyone knows that the principal and superintendent need to be Dr. So-and-so, right, especially if you work in an affluent suburb?
But of course they do! How can you take them seriously otherwise? (To date, I have not found any new respect for the administration yet - or the gym teacher, I must regret.) I mean, they probably had to take a whole course on educational buzzwords.
The worst part is it's NOT an affluent suburb, although pretty solidly middle-class, so they're getting paid so much more because of it and the district really could spend the money for things they really need (like repairing the old school buildings and taking care of the mold and asbestos problems).
Music teachers tend to know their actual content area because most music ed programs consist of additional coursework on top of the music BA or BM degree (not unusual to come out with a dual bachelor's). And music majors undergo at-least-annual performance assessments of their musical skills in front of a faculty jury, often even if they're not performance majors, so you can't just pass your courses and forget about them. Probably the biggest difference for music ed is that the coursework is controlled primarily by the music department, not the ed department. E.g., pedagogy classes are taught by music faculty. Oh, yeah, and you have to audition to get in, thus demonstrating that you have some better-than-rudimentary skill in the area before being accepted for training.
Yes. It's so nice to see teachers who actually know their content AND how to teach it. Not that there's no questionable ones, of course, but they're mostly elementary and "general music" teachers. In our area most of the teachers are in an orchestra or a quartet or at least do make an effort to actually be professionals in their field - come to think of it, it would probably be called continuing education if they taught something else. It's kind of easy take it for granted because it's just how they all are - until you realize most teachers aren't that competent in their subject even if their teaching skills are good. Unfortunately a lot of students and parents treat their classes like an easy A and don't take them seriously, and I always have to bite my tongue because they really put so much effort into doing things for the kids and keeping up their own skills as musicians, too.
*steps off soapbox*
