In 1987, the National Commission on Excellence in Educational Administration concluded that educational leadership preparation programs in the United States were marked by a "lack of collaboration between school districts and universities and lack of modern content." Echoing this concern, scholars have argued for a programmatic change that emphasizes teaching and learning under the umbrella of school improvement. This criticism that graduate programs are not bridging the gap between scholarly theory and practice has been the catalyst for re-examining master's and doctoral programs "to meet the needs of the society of the 21st century." Universities have responded to this concern by implementing scholar-practitioner programs which are generally identified by an emphasis on merging theory and practice rather than maintaining them as two separate entities. School improvement, democratic community, and social justice are key components. Thus, the dialogue to redefine educational leadership programs has resulted in university professors becoming "bridge scholars who can effectively carry that critique closer to the practice of teaching and learning and the practice of leading schools." Freire (1970) argued that the very essence of dialogue resonates with both reflection and action. In other words there is no "true word that is not at the same time a praxis." More importantly, human beings are challenged to say the "true word--which is work, which is praxis--to transform the world." More recently, Foster (1986) reiterated this connection between reflection and action by noting the importance of changing the paradigm of educational leadership through engaging in discourse about the direction of leadership when it is "concerned with how lives should be lived." This emphasis challenges programs to become more transformative in nature. Therefore, this qualitative study explores the notion of changing paradigms of leadership among doctoral students and resultant changes in practice by utilizing doctoral student semi-structured reflective writing as the primary source of data.