INTRODUCTION
Hurd (1958) emphasized the rapid developments in science and technology and questioned whether children
were getting adequate education which will provide them necessary knowledge and skills to take place in a
society full of scientific and technological developments. It was more than half century ago and the same
concern still exist. Most of the researchers and authorities in the field of education have focused on the same
issue and they have filled important gaps about this issue. However they gave little attention to teacher
education especially to the graduate programs in education faculties. Teacher education is crucial because
teachers are the core elements of education. If the teachers are good at teaching their subject areas, then the
children will possibly get adequate and high quality education. Teacher candidates can go one step further
when they finished the undergraduate programs. They can enroll in graduate programs to be better equipped
with knowledge and skills for teaching and doing research. Herein, one of main issue to be considered is the
quality of the graduate programs in education faculties. There is a common assumption about graduate
programs in teacher education programs. It is often believed that teacher educators who fulfilled the
requirements of doctoral programs are equipped with the necessary knowledge and skills for doing research
(Lin, Wang, Spalding, Klecka, & Odell, 2011). Lin et al. (2011) stated that the results of those teacher educators’
academic effort were also believed to be functional for informing teaching practice, teacher education, and
policies. On the other hand, as Lin et al. (2011) emphasized, the academic work of educational researchers are
generally found to be weak. Of that issue, one of the prominent is about the courses offered in the doctoral