A Silent Success: Master's Education in the United States Review

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(More customer reviews)The master's degree is often viewed by higher education professionals as a "second-class degree" or the "consolation prize" for those who never pursue and complete a Ph.D. Conrad, Haworth, and Millar give the master's degree its proper recognition in academe in their ground-breaking book, "A Silent Success." This text, essential reading for anyone in higher education administration, is the culmination of sound research (800 interviews of stakeholders in 47 master's programs across the country -- administrators, faculty, students, employers, and alumni) and skilled writing that engages the reader. The authors apply the constant comparative method to the plethora of qualitative data to arrive at four program types (ancillary, career advancement, apprencticeship, and community-centered) and 14 attributes of high-quality master's programs. This approach allows the researchers to see the tendencies "emerge" from the data rather than forcing the data to conform to some predetermined categories that may or may not be present (for more information on this intriguing approach, see Bogdan & Biklen's "Qualitative Research in Education").
The purpose of this book is not to help a prospective student choose a master's program; instead, it is an analysis of 47 programs to determine what constitutes a quality experience in a master's program. On a related note, it becomes clear that not all master's programs are created equal -- each has (or at least should have) particular strengths. Administrators may well consider the culture and objectives of their own programs to determine whether they are in line with their students' needs.
Haworth and Conrad pursue this thesis in a follow-up book, "Emblems of Quality in Higher Education: Developing and Sustaining High-Quality Programs." Both books are well worth a look if your field is higher education administration!


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