This article describes the process of replacing a modest Master's level school leader preparation program with an innovative Ed.D. program at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). The new doctoral program is intensive, highly selective, intellectually rigorous, and field-based. The authors provide side-by-side comparisons of the difference of each inquiry cycle which identified both problems and opportunities that led to the changes in the old program. The results, the characteristics of the doctoral program are shown by the authors to have addressed weaknesses of such leader preparation programs as identified in the research literature. Finally, the authors provide examples of specific data, such as student achievement data in schools led by UIC graduates, used in continually improving the program. (Contains 10 endnotes, 2 tables, and 1 figure.)