Courses, however, focus on narrower areas, and course instructors assess your knowledge and skill at a range of development stages and in a variety of specialized areas. It is not until you reach comprehensive examinations that the Department tests your ability to synthesize across those more narrow experiences. A Ph. D. is a research degree. When you receive your Ph. D., the Department is certifying your qualifications for participating in a larger discourse community. This means that the Department believes that it has prepared you to do research and scholarship, to submit and win grants to do research, to have your work published in regional, national, and international conferences and publications.
Comprehensive examinations involves a similar peer review process.
Six tenure stream faculty in the Department read and evaluate your responses in the first stage of comprehensive examinations. Those faculty come from diverse backgrounds and perspectives. In the second stage, your committee reads and evaluates your response, as does an outside reviewer. The process is constructed to be both evaluative and educative. Furthermore, as is true in the larger discourse communities, a multiplicity of perspectives on issues of teaching, learning, and schooling is both expected and welcomed.