Although individual teachers wield a tremendous amount of influence over the curricula that they design, if you really want to take a more active role in setting policy, curriculum development, instructional methods, and pedagogic theories, you will need to earn an education doctoral degree. As the highest level of academic achievement in the field, an education doctoral degree will train you to advance educational theory, run detailed analyses on instructional materials, or run clinical studies on new and innovative methods. The specifics of what you'll learn will really depend on what branch of education you want to study. In addition to basic instruction and curriculum development, you will also delve into extensive educational theory, special needs, public policy, legal ethics, and a host of other related disciplines. All of these different areas will help prepare you to become a veritable expert in your branch of instructional and educational theory.

Given the nature of this type of degree, your career paths will be quite extensive once you graduate. With a doctorate in education, you can work as an instructor all they way up to school superintendent. But in addition, you can develop learning materials, write scholarly articles, help design more educational innovations, and run respected clinical trials on new theories and methodologies. An education doctoral degree is an extremely respected certification that future employers, peers, parents and even governmental agencies will hold in high regard.