UNC School of Education Annual Report 2021-2022

Annual

Our Mission

The School of Education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is committed to realizing the transformative power of education and — in turn — is redefining what it means to educate. Education has the power to break down barriers, lift up individuals, and empower communities to rise and thrive. To that end, we inspire educators to lead, think creatively, act with passion, and strive toward equity for all.

Table of Contents

A MESSAGE

DEAN

Features

News

Editors

Faculty

Features

News

NEWS

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and Published by UNC School of Education

PROGRAMS

DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION

DEVELOPMENT AND ALUMNI RELATIONS

Development Totals

Board of Visitors

Alumni Council

Alumni Notes

A Message from the Dean

Friends and Fellow Educators,

As we begin another academic year at the UNC School of Education, I continue to be humbled and inspired by the faculty, staff, students, and alumni in this community. While each person’s work may look different, they all are dedicated to ensuring every learner has the opportunity to reach their maximum potential.

The pages within this annual report, I believe, show this dedication. And they also show the excellence, creativity, and commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion that our work — no matter the field — demand and deserve if we are to realize the transformative power of education.

The past few years have been especially challenging for our world, perhaps even more so for our country. We have experienced dual pandemics. One has set back the work of our educators; students have suffered learning loss and educators have (again) been asked to do more. And one pandemic has shown us that we, as a country, still have work to do; people of color experience injustice in myriad ways, including in our schools.

Schools and colleges of education must help solve these challenges.

At the UNC School of Education, our community of driven faculty, scholars, staff, students, and alumni are facing those challenges head on — in classrooms, schools, districts, academia, industries, and more.

Please keep reading to meet some of the extraordinary people who represent the vanguard for a better North Carolina, United States, and world. You will read about education professionals, future educators, researchers, and programs working to advance education and our society.

In the past year, our School has worked to bring continuous improvement to North Carolina school districts, to create school climates that ensure student well-being, to understand teaching and learning post-pandemic, and so much more.

Together, we will help to solve education’s most pressing and persistent problems and work to ensure every learner becomes an informed, responsible, compassionate, and engaged citizen who contributes to a thriving democracy.

I remain proud of this School of Education and the people who make it all that it is. They, along with all educators, truly propel the world. I am excited to share this community’s accomplishments with you and to see where we will go next.

All my best,

Fouad Abd-El-Khalick Dean and Alumni Distinguished Professor

Leadership

The UNC School of Education is led by a dynamic team of education researchers and professionals focused on the success of our students, the School, and the field.

At right is the leadership team at the UNC School of Education entering the 2022-23 academic year.

Fouad Abd-El-Khalick Dean Dana Griffin Dean’s Fellow for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Terri Jackson Assistant Dean for Advancement

Harriet Able

Tammy Cox Assistant Dean for Finance and Operations

Shauna Harris Assistant Dean for Student Affairs

Dean for Academic Affairs Director of Graduate Studies

Jill V. Hamm Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Development

Diana B. Lys Assistant Dean for Educator Preparation and Accreditation

Research

Advancing Knowledge, Driving Innovation

Faculty members at the UNC School of Education and their collaborators at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and beyond pursue innovative educational research and projects. They explore the nature of learning that contributes to effective teaching, data-driven classroom interventions and curricular improvements, insightful analysis leading to informed policies, and evidence-based advancements in educator preparation.

Dorothy Espelage

New supports needed to make schools safer learning environments

Educators, families, and students need to be actively involved in implementing new programs aimed at making schools safer places, according to a report from a task force of the American Psychological Association.

The APA conducted a survey of nearly 15,000 educators, school practitioners, administrators, and other school employees across all 50 U.S. states and Puerto Rico, finding that many teachers reported experiencing verbal harassment or threatening behavior from a student or parent of a student.

Dorothy Espelage, William C. Friday Distinguished Professor of Education, is a member of the APA Task Force on Violence Against Educators and School Personnel, which conducted the survey.

Espelage, who has studied school-based violence and bullying for more than 25 years and has developed comprehensive programs to reduce violence in schools, said schools and school districts need to make sustained efforts to involve teachers, students, and families in implementing violence prevention programs.

The task force is calling for more resources and programs, including a call for more support from Congress, that can help improve school climates.

But, too often, Espelage said, new programs are seen by teachers as “add-ons” that take them away from their other responsibilities and are not given enough time and effort to be successful.

“That’s my biggest fear,” Espelage said. “We can ask for all these resources, but if we are not prepared to do this deep integration and have the teachers’ voice and the parents’ voice and make sure that we really, really do have an eye toward all school members contributing to these resources, we’re going to fall short.

“Too many times school-based programs fail because of that lack of really thinking through ‘How can we make this really stay and stick?”’

Survey Results

The survey asked educators about their experiences with threats of violence — including verbal harassment, threats, or cyberbullying — from students, parents/guardians, colleagues, and administrators, as well as physical violence from students. Data were collected from July 2020 to June 2021, while many schools were operating in online or hybrid modes due to the pandemic.

One out of every three teachers reported at least one incident of verbal harassment or threatening behavior from a student, and 29% reported at least one incident from a parent of a student. The numbers were even higher for school administrators: Approximately 37% reported at least one incident of harassment or threat of violence from a student and 42% reported the same from a parent.

In response to the survey findings, the task force offered recommendations to address violence against school personnel, including:

• Supporting the mental health of school personnel as well as students and promoting trauma-informed practices.

• Enhancing school organizational functioning by including educators’ voices in decision-making.

Providing research-based systemic training to prevent school violence.

• Improving preparation programs for educators to better understand and address the social-emotional needs of students and other educators.

Members of the task force participated in a congressional briefing to present the findings and requests that included a list of actions that could be taken by Congress, including enacting bills being considered and funding priorities that could help address the issues identified by the survey.

Constance Lindsay

Helping educators be more responsive to the needs of racially diverse students is the objective of two Institute of Education Science-funded projects in which School of Education faculty member Constance Lindsay is serving as a co-principal investigator.

The projects offer two approaches to addressing inequities pervasive in U.S. schools that result in Black and other underrepresented students having lower rates of academic achievement, greater rates of suspension and expulsion, and lower likelihood of graduating from high school and college.

“Persistently stubborn racial inequities run deep in schools across America, with harms that can inhibit life goals of so many people,” Lindsay said. “We need to identify methods through which education leaders and educators can reduce these inequities and expand educational opportunity to all students. These studies will help us do that.”

The larger of the projects, supported with $3 million in funding from IES, will create and test a set of measures that schools and school districts can use to identify and address systemic inequities.

While ideas about inclusion and equity have been integrated into school leadership standards, the researchers say, education leaders continue to struggle with how to identify and promote actual inschool practices that make all students feel welcome and support their academic growth.

As part of the project, a team of researchers led by Jonathan Supovitz, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education, will create a toolkit that seeks to encourage practices that expand educational equity through “culturally responsive” schooling. Lindsay, an assistant professor who conducts research on policies and practices that affect achievement gaps in education, is serving as the head of the project’s validation team,

Improving racial equity in schools

“We need to identify methods through which education leaders and educators can reduce [ racial ] inequities and expand educational opportunity to all students.”

ensuring that the project’s processes and products accurately measure what they are intended to. The team will work with The Leadership Academy, a national leadership development nonprofit that has worked with schools and school districts, to cultivate culturally responsive leadership and schools.

The second project, with $530,000 in funding from IES, seeks to examine how teachers can improve their racial competency — specifically how White teachers can increase their racial competency to become more effective teachers to students of color.

The project will examine whether the racial makeup of teachers’ colleagues affect their teaching effectiveness or persistence in the classroom. It will also seek to measure the impact of the racial demographics of the students in teachers’ classrooms on the effectiveness of those teachers.

The project will use data from third-through-fifth grade classrooms throughout North Carolina, seeking to determine White teachers’ effects on Black and Latino students’ achievement, attendance, and suspensions. It will also examine the overall effectiveness of Black and Latino teachers, and test for differences in effects considering teachers’ length of classroom experience and their exposure to co-workers of different races within schools.

UNC School of Education, N.C. School of Science and Mathematics form research partnership

The UNC School of Education and the N.C. School of Science and Mathematics (NCSSM) have formed a partnership in which researchers will study the effectiveness of the STEM-focused high school’s programs.

The effort, funded with a grant from the N.C. Policy Collaboratory, is intended to become a long-term collaboration between the School of Education and NCSSM that works to promote equitable and effective STEM education.

The collaboration comes in the form of a “research-practice partnership” in which researchers will study initiatives at NCSSM and use those findings to improve the school’s educational practices and outcomes.

The project is supported by a $150,000 grant from the N.C. Policy Collaboratory, a UNC System center that works to employ policy and research expertise at UNC System universities for practical use by state and local governments.

Troy Sadler, Ph.D., the Thomas James Distinguished Professor of Experiential Learning at the UNC School of Education, is the principal investigator on the project, with Daniel Klasik, Ph.D., an assistant professor, serving as a co-principal investigator. Krissi Hewitt, executive director of institutional effectiveness and chief research officer at NCSSM, is also a co-principal investigator and will co-chair, along with Sadler, the leadership team managing the project. A steering committee made up of leaders at the two schools will provide overall guidance.

NCSSM, which is administered as part of the UNC System, is a residential high school located in Durham for academically talented students from across North Carolina in their junior and senior years. NCSSM will open a new campus in Morganton, N.C., this year.

NCSSM recently was ranked as the second-best public high school in the country by Niche, a leading firm that advises families in their high school and college searches.

The partnership’s first studies will examine NCSSM’s Summer Ventures program, a four-week program for North Carolina students in their third or fourth year of high school. Another focus of examination by the partnership will be NCSSM’s various course delivery models, including residential, online, and remote enrollment.

Doctoral student-faculty research collaborations showcased at AERA

The annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) took place April 21-26, 2022, in San Diego, drawing more than 11,000 educational researchers from around the world to present the latest in educational research. From the UNC School of Education, 23 faculty members and 27 students contributed to the conference in 60 different events. Almost half of those 60 events had doctoral student involvement, highlighting the strength of the School’s doctoral student preparation efforts.

“Our doctoral students are deeply involved in our research efforts,” said Jeff Greene, Ph.D., the McMichael Family Professor. “Their contributions are readily apparent by their active participation at AERA, both in presenting their own research and as collaborators.”

Doctoral students were lead or solo authors on 17 papers presented at the conference. Their participation included presentations in symposia, roundtable discussions, and paper presentations.

The AERA’s annual meeting is the largest gathering of scholars in the field of education research. The theme of the conference this year was “Cultivating Equitable Education Systems for the 21st Century.”

Katherine Ingram, a doctoral student in the School of Education’s School Psychology program, was one of the doctoral students presenting her own research. Her dissertation research — centered on understanding the motivations that prompt adolescent “sexting” — has won a $100,000 dissertation award from the National Institute of Justice.

Dorothy Espelage, Ph.D., William C. Friday Distinguished Professor of Education who works with school psychology doctoral students, has worked with Ingram on her research and was a co-presenter with Ingram at AERA.

“Katie’s research is critical for understanding who, why, and how adolescents participate in sexting behavior so that we can build programs to prevent the harms that can come from them,” Espelage said. “Presenting this research in a forum such as AERA gives students experience presenting their work in a professional setting and also helps spread findings that can contribute to others’ research efforts.”

Daniel Klasik

Troy Sadler

Study: Teacher evaluation reforms failed to improve student outcomes

Reforms of teacher evaluation systems across the country during the last dozen years have largely failed their primary goal: To raise student academic performance. That’s one of the findings of a study co-authored by Matthew Springer, Ph.D., published as a working paper by the Annenberg Institute at Brown University.

Incentivized by the federal government’s Race to the Top grant competitions between 2009 and 2017, 44 states and the District of Columbia implemented reforms aimed at linking the evaluations of teachers to the academic performance of their students.

The bottom line: The reforms had no discernible effect on student achievement in mathematics or English language arts and little effect on educational attainment.

The study, which its authors say provides the broadest and most generalizable evidence of the efficacy of teacher evaluation reforms in the U.S., concludes that despite billions of dollars spent reforming teacher evaluation systems, the reforms have had almost zero positive effect on student outcomes.

“These data show that on average across the country, teacher evaluation reforms haven’t had their intended effect,” said Springer, the Robena and Walter E. Hussman Jr. Distinguished Professor of Education Reform. “We found that while linking teacher evaluations to student performance has worked in a few places, it has proved to be very difficult for most school districts to establish these systems in ways that contribute to better academic outcomes for students.”

Before the reforms, teacher evaluations relied primarily on observations, had little direct connection to teacher compensation or employment, and saw nearly all teachers receiving satisfactory ratings, leaving no way to differentiate among the teachers’ performances.

Reform proponents advocated teacher evaluation systems that consider student performance would make it possible for districts to reward effective teachers, while also identifying lower-performing teachers in need of professional development or to be removed from their jobs.

The reform efforts also may have had unintended consequences of driving down job satisfaction among educators and imposing burdensome demands on administrators’ time, perhaps displacing other more productive activities, the team said.

Program shown to be effective helping autistic high school students

In a first-of-its-kind study, researchers led by Kara Hume, Ph.D., found that a new comprehensive intervention for high school students with autism was more successful in helping them reach educational goals than services typically provided for autistic students.

Results of the three-year efficacy study of the Center on Secondary Education for Students with Autism (CSESA) model — the largest study ever conducted of a comprehensive intervention for high school students with autism — were published in the journal Exceptional Children

“We’re excited to share these findings, as they come from the first large-scale randomized control trial of an intervention aimed at improving services for high school students with autism,” Hume said. “The CSESA model has been getting some attention from researchers and practitioners in the field of autism, and now this is the first study that demonstrates that the model can help schools provide better supports for these students.”

The CSESA model was developed by a team of researchers at seven universities, and was led by Hume and Sam Odom, former director and now a senior research scientist at UNC-Chapel Hill’s Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute. Supported by a grant from the Institute of Education Sciences, the team previously spent two years developing the model and training teams of high school educators how to use it.

The study involved 60 high schools in North Carolina, Wisconsin, and California, examining the outcomes of the 547 students with autism initially enrolled in the study and their families. Researchers compared the outcomes of two sets of students with autism: Those at 30 high schools using the CSESA model and those at 30 high schools using services typically provided for autistic students.

Among its results, the study found that schools using the CSESA model saw significant positive changes in the quality of programming offered to students, as well as significantly more attainment of the students’ learning goals.

Hume and fellow researchers reported that although implementation of the CSESA model is labor-intensive and requires a multiyear commitment, the program was well received by the school autism teams that used it.

Alumna Nikki G. Lobczowski wins outstanding dissertation award

Nikki G. Lobczowski (’19 Ph.D.), who works as a postdoctoral associate at the University of Pittsburgh’s Learning, Research, and Development Center, won the 2021 Paul R. Pintrich Outstanding Dissertation Award from Division 15 (Educational Psychology) of the American Psychological Association.

Lobczowski, who earned her doctorate in the Learning Sciences and Psychological Studies concentration of the Ph.D. program, conducted research for her dissertation examining group dynamics and the regulation of emotions among college students working in a collaborative setting.

Her dissertation, entitled “Building from the Inside Out: The Formation and Regulation of Emotions in Collaborative Learning,” provides suggestions for how researchers and teachers can promote socioemotional regulation among students working together in academic settings. The dissertation includes three articles, including a literature review, empirical paper on the socioemotional formation and regulation with graduate pharmacy students, and a theoretical paper that introduces a new model for the formation and regulation of emotions in collaborative learning (FRECL), which was published in Educational Psychologist. Jeffrey Greene, the McMichael Family Professor at the School of Education, was Lobczowski’s advisor.

Lobczowski, who earned both an M.Ed. in curriculum and instruction and a B.S. in mathematics from Virginia Tech, served as a postdoctoral fellow at the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University after earning her Ph.D. at Carolina. She is an author of 15 articles in refereed journals, including as lead author on four of them.

Li Ke wins a 2021 Postdoctoral Award for Research Excellence

Li Ke, a postdoctoral research associate with the School of Education, won a 2021 Postdoctoral Award for Research Excellence.

The awards are given by the UNC Office of Postdoctoral Affairs in recognition of the research promise demonstrated by individual postdoctoral scholars. He was one of five postdocs at Carolina to win one of the awards.

Ke’s research centers around promoting meaningful science learning. In particular, he is interested in how teachers can support students in engaging in scientific practices such as scientific modeling in ways that are meaningful to the discipline of science, the classroom knowledge building community, and students’ everyday lives.

Ke conducts research with Troy Sadler, the School’s Thomas James Distinguished Professor of Experiential Learning. Their projects address promotion of students’ scientific literacy through modeling in the context of socio-scientific issues.

He has published eight journal articles, including three as lead author, and has written two book chapters. He’s a co-principal investigator on a $1.9 million National Science Foundationfunded project aimed at developing instructional materials using scientific modeling to teach about viral pandemics. Ke also serves as managing editor of the Journal of Research in Science

Teaching

School of Education faculty win $3.5 million in NSF research funding

Researchers at the UNC School of Education won more than $3.5 million in National Science Foundation awards to pursue five projects — three focused on STEM learning and two regarding learning in the COVID-19 pandemic.

The awards will support investigations that promise to reveal new understandings that inform instructional practices and policies, including ones that can better extend educational opportunity to underserved students, said Fouad Abd-ElKhalick, dean of the UNC School of Education.

“We are appreciative of this support from the National Science Foundation,” Abd-El-Khalick said. “These awards are indicative of the strengths of our researchers, and the relevance of their research agendas during this time of challenge and change in education.”

The projects supported by the awards include one that is producing and evaluating middle and high school science instructional materials based on the COVID-19 pandemic, another that will explore what we can learn from families’ responses to the pandemic, and three projects investigating aspects of the STEM educational and career pipelines.

Jill Hamm, associate dean for research and faculty development, said it was notable that each of the five awards was from different NSF program competitions.

“We have innovative researchers who are diving into important questions across a range of fields within education,” Hamm said. “This round of NSF funding will help these researchers uncover new data, insights, and interventions that can fuel improvements in educational experiences and outcomes for learners at all levels.”

Home to our fields’ premier journals

Our researchers are actively engaged at the forefront of their communities of scholarship. They serve as editor or associate editor for some of our fields’ leading academic journals, collaborating with editorial team members from institutions across the nation and globe to push their areas of scholarship. The rigorous and cutting-edge research featured in these publications expand and strengthen our understandings in educational fields and drive practice in P-20 educational institutions and communities.

American Journal on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

Brian Boyd, Ph.D., William C. Friday Distinguished Professor in Education, serves as an associate editor of the American Journal on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AJIDD). AJIDD is among the top journals in the special education and rehabilitation fields. It reports critical research in biological, behavioral, and educational sciences, and is a singular, multidisciplinary resource in the causes, treatment, and prevention of intellectual disabilities.

Educational Psychologist

Jeffrey A. Greene, Ph.D., McMichael Family Professor, is co-editor of Educational Psychologist, one of the top journals in educational research and the journal of Division 15 (Educational Psychology) of the American Psychological Association. He serves alongside co-editor Lisa Linnenbrink-Garcia, a professor at Michigan State University.

Educational Researcher

Thurston “Thad” Domina, Ph.D., Robert Wendell Eaves Sr. Professor in Educational Leadership, is one of five co-editors leading Educational Researcher, the premier academic journal of the American Educational Research Association. He shares co-editor responsibilities with June Ahn, an associate professor at the University of California, Irvine; Andrew McEachin, a policy researcher at the RAND Corporation and a core faculty member at the Pardee RAND Graduate School; Dana Thompson Dorsey, an associate professor and associate director of research and development for the Center for Urban Education at the University of Pittsburgh; and Sarah Woulfin, an associate professor at the University of Connecticut.

Journal of Research in Science Teaching

Troy D. Sadler, Ph.D., Thomas James Distinguished Professor of Experiential Learning, serves as co-editor — with Felicia Moore Mensah of Teachers College at Columbia University — of the Journal of Research in Science Teaching (JRST). JRST is the leading academic journal in the field of science education and is the official journal of NARST. The journal was previously co-edited, from 2014-2019, by UNC School of Education Dean Fouad Abd-El-Khalick, Ph.D., and Dana Zeidler from the University of South Florida. Donald & Justeen Tarbet Faculty Scholar Kihyun “Kelly” Ryoo, Ph.D., who previously was an editorial review board member for the journal, serves as an associate editor.

Professional School Counseling

Dana Griffin, Ph.D., associate professor of school counseling, serves as associate editor of Professional School Counseling — the flagship journal of the American School Counselor Association and of the school counseling profession. Professional School Counseling is a rigorous peer-reviewed journal that publishes high-quality manuscripts on theory, research, and best practices for the profession.

The Urban Review

Sherick A. Hughes, Ph.D., Samuel M. Holton Distinguished Professor, serves as editor of The Urban Review, a journal devoted to examining issues around improvement of urban schooling and education. The Urban Review was previously co-edited by retired professor George Noblit. Doctoral student Torrie Edwards serves as managing editor.

Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis

Nianbo Dong, Ph.D., Kinnard White Faculty Scholar, serves as one of five associate editors of Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, a leading scholarly journal in the field of education research. He will help lead the journal from 2023-2025. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis is considered a premier journal for rigorous, policy-relevant research on issues central to education. It publishes articles intended to inform a wide range of readers — from scholars and policy analysts to journalists and education associations — working at local, state, and national levels.

Faculty

From promising young scholars to our fields’ pre-eminent researchers, to forward-thinking experts preparing the next generation of educators, the UNC School of Education is home to a world-class faculty. Our faculty members advance knowledge, drive innovation, and empower future education leaders. They are often called on to move forward conversations about education — in the media, in large-scale collaborative projects, in advisory roles to government leaders, in field-leading academic journals, and more.

Endowed Faculty Members

Our faculty members in the UNC School of Education are distinguished in their areas of research, and we are able to recognize some of those faculty members with the distinction of either endowed professor or scholar.

Fouad Abd-El-Khalick

Alumni Distinguished Professor

Matthew Bernacki

Donald & Justeen Tarbet Faculty Scholar

Brian Boyd

William C. Friday Distinguished Professor in Education

Gregory J. Cizek

Guy B. Phillips Professor

Lora Cohen-Vogel

Frank A. Daniels Jr. Professor

Dionne Cross Francis

Joseph R. Neikirk Professor

Thurston “Thad” Domina

Robert Wendell Eaves Sr. Professor in Educational Leadership

Nianbo Dong

Kinnard White Faculty Scholar in Education

Dorothy L. Espelage

William C. Friday Distinguished Professor of Education

Jeffrey A. Greene

McMichael Family Professor

Jill V. Hamm

William C. Friday Distinguished Professor of Education

Sherick A. Hughes

Samuel M. Holton Distinguished Professor

Kara Hume

Richard “Dick” Coop Faculty Scholar in Education

Ethan Hutt Gary Stuck Faculty Scholar in Education

Kihyun “Kelly” Ryoo

Donald & Justeen Tarbet Faculty Scholar

Troy D. Sadler

Thomas James Distinguished Professor of Experiential Learning

R. Keith Sawyer

Morgan Distinguished Professor of Educational Innovations

Matthew G. Springer Robena and Walter E. Hussman Jr. Distinguished Professor of Education Reform

L-R: Kihyun “Kelly” Ryoo, Thad Domina, Fouad-Abd-El-Khalick, and Sherick Hughes at the 2021 Celebration of Scholarly Excellence.

Newly Endowed Professors and Faculty Scholars

Ahead of the 2022-23 academic year at a Celebration of Scholarly Excellence, the UNC School of Education honored four faculty members with endowed distinctions and recognized Dean Fouad Abd-El-Khalick, who earlier received a distinguished title from the UNC Office of the Provost.

Brian Boyd

William C. Friday Distinguished Professor in Education

Boyd, Ph.D., a leading autism researcher, joined the School in 2022 as William C. Friday Distinguished Professor in Education. Previously, he served as director of the Juniper Gardens Children’s Project at the University of Kansas. A special educator by training, much of his work has involved the development and evaluation of evidence-based practices implemented within school and home contexts. His more recent work has focused on how issues of implicit bias and race affect the outcomes of children with and without disabilities. His research has been continuously funded by federal agencies such as the Institute of Education Sciences and National Institutes of Health. Currently, he serves as vice president of the International Society for Autism Research and co-editor of the Journal of Early Intervention

Kara Hume

Richard “Dick” Coop Faculty Scholar in Education

Hume, Ph.D., has worked with youth on the autism spectrum for 30+ years in a variety of capacities. Her research aims to increase access for individuals with developmental disabilities to high-quality community-based services and interventions. Much of her work focuses on the design and implementation of interventions for autistic youth, their families, and service providers in school and community settings. Hume is director of the National Clearinghouse on Autism Evidence and Practice. She co-led the Center on Secondary Education for Students with ASD from 2012-2018. At Carolina, her collaborations have garnered more than $15 million in funding, resulted in 70+ manuscripts and book chapters, and led to two of the largest studies examining the efficacy of school-based interventions for students with developmental disabilities.

Ethan Hutt

Gary Stuck Faculty Scholar in Education

Hutt, Ph.D., conducts research focused on the numbers used to describe, define, and evaluate U.S. schools. Whether it’s defining the length of the school year, what constitutes a passing grade, or makes an effective school, numbers exist everywhere in modern schools. Hutt’s work seeks to understand where these metrics come from, how they became central to the work of schools, and the effects they have on how people think about what schools do and how well they do it. In answering these questions, his research often takes a historical approach that emphasizes the role of law and policy in shaping these developments.

Nianbo Dong

Kinnard White Faculty Scholar in Education

Dong’s, Ph.D., research develops and applies rigorous quantitative methods to evaluate educational policies, programs, and practice. His interests focus on design and analysis of the main, moderation, and mediation effects in multilevel experiments, cost-effectiveness analysis, and causal inference. He has developed three statistical software packages for assisting users design multilevel experiments to detect the main effect, moderator effects, and mediator effects of the intervention. Additional research focuses on the evaluations of the effectiveness of teacher and principal training programs and early child education programs. His work has been supported by IES and NSF. He will serve as associate editor of Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis from 2023-25.

Fouad Abd-El-Khalick

Alumni Distinguished Professor

Abd-El-Khalick, Ph.D., has served as dean of the School since 2016. An elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, he is a leading researcher on the teaching and learning about nature of science in precollege grades and teacher-education settings. Abd-El-Khalick has served as editor of the Journal of Research in Science Teaching and associate editor of the Journal of Science Teacher Education and School Science and Mathematics. He has held leadership positions in his field, including on the executive board of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching (NARST). In 2022, NARST bestowed on him its highest honor — the Distinguished Contributions to Science Education through Research Award.

Lora Cohen-Vogel

Rethinking the future of education research

A2022 report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine says the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) should update the structure and policies of research activities run by the National Center for Education Research (NCER) and National Center for Special Education Research (NCSER) to better meet changing priorities in education.

Faculty member Lora Cohen-Vogel, Ph.D., Frank A. Daniels Jr. Professor, is one of 15 leading education researchers who served on the committee that authored the report.

The report, The Future of Education Research at IES: Advancing an Equity-Oriented Science, says IES needs to revise the structure of its competitive grant process so that it is more responsive to the needs of educators, learners, and communities.

IES should prioritize new research topics for NCER grants, including civil rights policy and practice, teacher education and education workforce development, and education technology and learning analytics. New research topics for NCSER grants should include teaching practices and outcomes for students with disabilities, among others.

The report recommends IES implement a systematic and transparent process to regularly assess adding or removing new study topics moving forward.

IES should also expand the types of studies and study designs it funds, which will better ensure that IES-funded research is useful for education stakeholders.

The report also encourages new research to better understand implementing interventions at the school and district level with a focus on local context. Cohen-Vogel is a nationally recognized leader in the field of improvement science as it relates to education and has served as associate director and co-principal investigator of the National Center for Scaling Up Effective Schools, an effort to develop understandings around how to deploy improvement approaches and the associated challenges.

“Education, like health care and employment, has been profoundly shaped by the events of the past few years,” Cohen-Vogel said. “Educational issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic and racial reckoning are emerging at breakneck speed and demand assistance from the educational research community.”

IES does not regularly share information on its applicants, reviewers, and grantees, the report says, making it difficult to track whether awards are being distributed equitably to education researchers.

Some specific recommendations include the IES should review and fund grants more quickly, create a working group that represents the perspectives of education practitioners and policymakers, and implement a range of strategies to achieve greater diversity and equity within grantees and training participants.

The study — undertaken by the Committee on the Future of Education Research at the Institute of Education Sciences in the U.S. Department of Education — was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education.

“Educational issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic and racial reckoning are emerging at breakneck speed and demand assistance from the educational research community.”

Kara Hume

Carolina team creates materials to help autistic children and youth coping with war

Ateam at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has answered a call for help from Ukraine, developing and publishing a set of resources to help families and others who care for autistic children and youth cope with the violence and uncertainty of war.

The team, led by Kara Hume, Ph.D., associate professor in the UNC School of Education, developed a compilation of easy-to-use resources — accessible online to families and professionals — to provide support for children and youth with autism during times of uncertainty, conflict, and upheaval.

“We hope the resources make it a tiny bit easier for a family or professional to pull up some quick, ready-made tools that can provide some bit of a routine that could be calming or soothing to someone in a time of stress,” said Hume, a researcher and practitioner who for 30 years has worked with children and young adults on the autism spectrum.

“We know this is just a small way to offer support at a great distance, but we wanted to be as responsive as possible to their requests so we developed what we could as quickly as we could,” said Hume, who also serves as director of the National Clearinghouse on Autism Evidence and Practice and as a faculty fellow at UNC’s Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute (FPG), which hosts the materials.

The resources have been translated into Ukrainian and Russian languages, distributed in those and surrounding countries by local professionals, families, and self-advocates, and are downloadable as PDFs.

The materials represent the second major “Timely Toolkit” developed by the team, which included researchers, staff, and students from FPG, UNC’s Department of Allied Health Sciences, and the UNC School of Education. At the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the team produced a widely used Timely Toolkit to support autistic individuals and families, which has been downloaded almost 300,000 times and translated into 10 languages.

While the resources were developed for immediate use by families and caregivers affected by the war in Ukraine, they are designed to be of service throughout the world. The team developed the resources and materials so that they may be useful to individuals anywhere experiencing war and displacement.

Jessica Steinbrenner, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, associate professor in the UNC Department of Allied Health Sciences, said that people in Ukraine — and any place where there is war and displacement — are living in uncertainty and fear, with their day-to-day life markedly changed and their routines different and potentially unpredictable.

“Many autistic children and adults struggle with change and benefit from routine,” Steinbrenner said. “The resources we developed are an effort to provide some supports, guided by evidence-based practices, to address the fact that change is inevitable, and routine may not be possible in the same ways it once was.”

Answering a call for help

The project was launched after a psychologist with close ties to Ukraine along with an autistic self-advocate who is also a parent of an autistic child in that country, reached out to Ann Sam, Ph.D., an advanced research scientist at FPG, asking for help creating resources for families and professionals dealing with the effects of war and displacement, which have resulted in challenges for autistic children.

“After the resources were developed and before posting, they were reviewed by the team in Ukraine,” said Sam. “We want to make sure the needs of families and autistic children are centered, and the resources can hopefully be helpful to those impacted.”

The toolkit includes three categories of resources: social narratives, visual supports, and coping strategies. Social narratives explain in simple language what is happening or what will happen. The social narratives use words and pictures to support comprehension and reduce the child’s sense of being overwhelmed. By helping to clarify what is coming, caregivers can increase predictability and offer a sense of control for children with autism.

The third resource offers coping strategies since trauma can impact mental and physical health and contribute to challenges with communication and self-regulation. Again, using words and images, the offerings provide calming routines, yoga poses, and mindfulness techniques, among other ways that children and families can deal with the stress they are facing.

UNC partnership with Eastern N.C. district drives development of ‘learning ecosystem’

The School is helping to establish a continuous improvement program in Pitt County as part of a multi-pronged project aimed at expanding the professional learning of and diversity among the district’s teachers and school leaders. The project, funded by a $5.4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education, will work to create programs and processes over three years to build the knowledge, skills, and capacities of school leaders and coaches.

Lora Cohen-Vogel, Ph.D., leads the effort to infuse continuous improvement into the district’s work. The partnership with Pitt County leverages long-term connections with one of Eastern North Carolina’s largest districts.

Study led by Domina wins award

A paper written by a team led by Thad Domina, Ph.D., won the Raymond Vernon Memorial Award, given by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.

The paper — “Kids on the Bus: The Academic Consequences of Diversity-Driven School

Reassignments” — looked at ten years of data from a school reassignment program in North Carolina’s Wake County and how the desegregation program positively affected student achievement and other factors. It was published by the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management.

Abd-El-Khalick honored with top NARST award

Fouad Abd-El-Khalick, Ph.D., dean and Alumni Distinguished Professor at the School of Education, received the NARST 2022 Distinguished Contributions to Science Education through Research Award — the highest honor bestowed by the National Association for Research in Science Teaching.

It recognizes scholars who have made significant contributions to, provided notable leaderships in, and had substantial impact on science education through research. Abd-El-Khalick is a leading science education researcher and has made transformative contributions to the development of the scholarly study of “nature of science,” or “NOS.”

Glazier wins Distinguished Teaching Award for Post-Baccalaureate Instruction

Jocelyn Glazier, Ph.D., was one of 25 UNC-Chapel Hill faculty members and teaching assistants who received a 2022 University Teaching Award.

The awards are given annually to celebrate the University’s commitment to outstanding teaching and mentoring for graduate and undergraduate students.

Glazier was one of four faculty members from across the University to win a Distinguished Teaching Award for PostBaccalaureate Instruction. She teaches in the Culture, Curriculum, and Teacher Education concentration of the Ph.D. program, the School’s master’s degree programs, and in the Minor in Education program.

Paper co-authored by Lindsay wins AERA award

A synthesis of 20 years of research examining the effectiveness of school principals co-authored by Constance Lindsay, Ph.D., shared firstplace honors of the AERA’s 2022 Division H Outstanding Publications Competition for an Applied Research Report.

The Wallace Foundation-funded report — titled “How Principals Affect Students and Schools: A Systematic Synthesis of Two Decades of Research” — examined 219 studies about school leadership published since 2000, concluding principals are more important than previously understood. The report also calls for more investments in strategies that better prepare and support school principals.

Bolick creates learning materials about contemporary Africa

Cheryl Bolick, Ph.D., associate professor, is part of a project funded with a $500,000 Oak Foundation grant to produce learning resources about contemporary Africa for K-5 classrooms in the U.S.

The project team is creating lesson plans and user guides and other content to be used by elementary school teachers. Bolick is collaborating with Carolina’s African Studies Center, guiding teams of scholars and educators to identify and curate content for an online repository and then working with teams to develop curricular materials to accompany the resources in the repository.

UCEA honors professor emerita Tillman

The University Council for Educational Administration has named a new award after Linda C. Tillman, Ph.D., a former member of the faculty at the School of Education.

The Linda C. Tillman Social & Racial Justice Award recognizes an educational leadership faculty member who demonstrates outstanding leadership in furthering the values of UCEA to foster diversity, equity, and social justice in PK-20 educational organizations.

Tillman, who retired from the School in 2014, was also named the inaugural recipient of the award, announced by the UCEA ahead of its annual convention in November 2021.

Frederick selected as Thorp Faculty Engaged Scholar

Helyne Frederick, Ph.D., Human Development and Family Science program director, was named to the Carolina Center for Public Service’s 2021-2023 cohort of Thorp Faculty Engaged Scholars.

As a Thorp Faculty Engaged Scholar, Frederick will collaborate with and support fellow cohort members in scholarship that engages with UNC-Chapel Hill and the surrounding community.

In addition to leading the HDFS program, which boasts approximately 300 undergraduate majors, Frederick researches ways to improve sexual health care for Black women and adolescents in the region by addressing issues related to higher rates of sexually transmitted infections and reproductive health challenges.

Staff News

Cizek wins AERA award

Gregory Cizek, Ph.D., Guy B. Phillips Professor, received the 2022 Test Validation Research and Evaluation Award for a Senior Scholar — an honor bestowed by the American Educational Research Association’s Test Validity Research and Evaluation special interest group.

Cizek is a national authority on educational measurement and evaluation, having conducted research for over 30 years in the field of applied assessment with specializations in validity, standard setting, and test security. He has served as chair of the National Assessment Governing Board’s Committee on Standards, Design, and Methodology and has helped the NAGB set policies guiding the use of data to measure U.S. student achievement since 2017. Cizek also has served as president of the National Council on Measurement in Education.

UNC School of Education Staff Excellence Awards

The School awarded its annual Staff Excellence Awards to Alan Brown, coordinator of information technology, and Laurie Norman, director of alumni relations. They were nominated by faculty and staff, and then selected for the award by a committee made up of fellow staff members. Brown’s nominators noted his tireless and creative efforts to help faculty and staff with technology needs, particularly when people worked and taught remotely during the pandemic. Norman’s nominators spoke of her ambassadorship and her outreach to alumni, creating strong ties to the School and creating strong networks between members of the School community.

UNC School of Education programs

Doctoral Degree Programs

Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership (Ed.D.)

Doctor of Philosophy in Education (Ph.D.)

Concentrations:

Applied Developmental Science and Special Education Culture, Curriculum, and Teacher Education

Learning Sciences and Psychological Studies

Policy, Leadership, and School Improvement

Doctor of Philosophy in School Psychology (Ph.D.)

Master’s Degree Programs

Master of Arts in Educational Innovation, Technology, and Entrepreneurship (M.A.)

Master of Arts in Teaching (M.A.T.)

Master of Education for Experienced Teachers (M.Ed.)

Early Childhood Intervention and Family Support

Master of Education in School Counseling (M.Ed.)

Master of School Administration (M.S.A.)

Bringing students from across North Carolina into Peabody Hall

Undergraduate Degree Programs

Bachelor of Arts in Human Development and Family Science (B.A.Ed.)

Bachelor of Arts in Human and Organizational Leadership Development (B.A.)

Bachelor of Music in Music Education (B.M.Ed.)

UNC Baccalaureate Education in Science and Teaching (B.A. or B.S.)

Licensure Programs

Birth-Kindergarten, Pre-Kindergarten Licensure

Pathway to Practice NC

School Administration Licensure

Higher education already includes in-person residential, online or non-residential, synchronous, and asynchronous courses for students. In 2021, the UNC School of Education unveiled two new, forward-thinking classrooms that aim to dissolve those lines, enabling students, particularly professional students, from anywhere in North Carolina — and the world — to join classes happening in Chapel Hill. The classrooms, equipped with eight screens and a technology-advancing audio system, allows for multiple Zoom breakout rooms. Students joining the class remotely can participate in these breakout groups with fellow in-person students as the in-person instructor visits each group. Already, the School’s hyflex Master of School Administration program welcomes students from across the state into these classrooms, providing unique and varied professional perspectives in the preparation of school leaders.

Carolina collaborates with Person County to launch K-2 community academy

Beginning in the 2022-23 school year, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will partner with Person County Schools to launch the Carolina Community Academy, an innovative school for K-2 students at North Elementary in Roxboro, N.C.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will function as the school district for the academy, and the UNC School of Education will lead the initiative while forming a cross-campus coalition to best serve the students, families, and community in Person County. The inaugural class of students start at Carolina Community Academy on Aug. 29 and include two kindergarten classrooms with 15 to 19 students per class. The school will expand to include first and second grades in future academic years.

“Carolina Community Academy, and our partnership with Person County Schools, will bring the knowledge and expertise of our faculty, staff, and students to serve the people of our state,” Chancellor Kevin M. Guskiewicz said. “This is what it means to be passionately public. Through long-term investment and coordination with community partners, we can make a difference in the lives of so many students and their families.”

The North Carolina General Assembly passed a law in 2016 that directed the UNC System to create nine laboratory schools in partnership with public school districts. Carolina Community Academy will be the ninth to open across the state.

“We are partnering with Person County and other University units to build exceptional teaching, learning, development, and engagement experiences for academy students, educators, families, and community members. To this end, the partnership will bring the full bandwidth of Carolina’s expertise and opportunities to our students so they can reach their fullest potential,” said School of Education Dean Fouad Abd-El-Khalick.

community member Brittany West.

“The premise of the Carolina Community Academy is to care for the whole child. In addition to great teaching, learning, and educational leadership within the school, we will bolster community engagement and wraparound services,” Abd-El-Khalick said. “Schools exist in social, economic, and cultural realities, and we need to attend to and support all dimensions that impact the learning, development, and well-being of students.”

Abd-El-Khalick said other Carolina units also expressed great interest in joining the coalition. Those units include the School of Social Work, Adams School of Dentistry, Gillings School of Global Public Health, School of Library and Information Science, School of Medicine — particularly, allied health and pediatrics — Morehead Planetarium and Science Center, Sonja Haynes Stone Center, and Carolina Athletics. Abd-El-Khalick added that this coalition continues to grow.

“We are extremely excited about the partnership with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the School of Education. As we prepare students for success in an ever-changing society, it is important for public education to ensure we offer experiences for our students that will prepare them for opportunities of their choice,” said Peterson. “This partnership not only allows us to collaborate with higher education partners to achieve this goal but to also tap into resources we would otherwise not be afforded in our community.”

Abd-El-Khalick says Carolina and Person County are unified by the values of a whole education, caring for the child, engaging the community, and providing exceptional teaching and learning, as well as wraparound services.

The academy was designed as a “school within a school” to provide a seamless transition for students at North Elementary. After finishing second grade at the academy, students will simply move down the hall to begin third grade with the same classmates at North Elementary. The academy will function as a classroom setting similar to many others found throughout the state while working to integrate evidence-based classroom practices and innovative approaches, improved and integrated curriculum, social-emotional learning, and robust wraparound services to best support the students.

Guskiewicz will serve as the superintendent of the academy, and an advisory board will include Abd-El-Khalick, Person County Superintendent Rodney Peterson, UNC Board of Trustees member Ramsey White, School faculty members Martinette Horner and Chris Scott, and Person County

“Carolina and the School of Education stand to learn much from our partners as we deepen our understanding and engagement with educators, schools, and the community in Person County,” said Abd-El-Khalick.

“We want to take the best care of students who have been entrusted to UNC-Chapel Hill. This partnership resonates with the four guiding pillars of the School of Education: collaborating for the greater good, educating the whole, empowering the leaders of tomorrow, and driving innovation. The Carolina Community Academy is a great opportunity for the School of Education and Carolina to put these pillars into action as we continue to expand our engagement with communities across the state,” he said.

“Schools exist in social, economic, and cultural realities, and we need to attend to and support all dimensions that impact the learning, development, and well-being of students.”

When Asha Patel was a junior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a major in business seemed like a path to success.

But it was during a Maymester course focused on experiential education that Patel “saw the value of” what she was learning and experiencing, she said. Soon after, she declared a minor in education.

As graduation neared, Patel (’19 B.S.B.A.) went a route expected of a new business school grad: She applied for consulting jobs.

“And then through those interview processes, I realized, ‘I have a much higher degree of interest in teaching and education,’ so I applied to become a teacher.

“At that point, I didn’t have a degree in education, but the mission [of the School of Education] was something that resonated with me.”

Patel’s job search led her to a lateral entry teaching position — or a residency — at an elementary school in Union County, not far from her hometown of Charlotte. As a residency license teacher, she was hired to teach second grade, but had not yet obtained her full teaching license. To continue teaching, she had to earn that license within her first three years in the classroom.

As she began her first year teaching during the 2020-21 school year, Patel also began Pathway to Practice NC — a 100% online Educator Preparation Program offered by North Carolina State University and UNC-Chapel Hill specifically designed to help residency license teachers earn a full teaching license.

By the end of Patel’s first year of teaching, she had completed her Pathway to Practice NC coursework and submitted her edTPA materials. She earned initial full teaching licensure not long after.

A flexible program with working educators in mind

When Pathway to Practice NC launched in 2017, the program’s visionaries — UNC School of Education and the NC State College of Education faculty members, renowned researchers, and subject matter experts from the state’s top public universities — had residency license teachers like Patel in mind.

In 2015, the State Board of Education reported more than 4,300 lateral entry teachers, now designated as residency license teachers. It also reported that lateral entry teachers leave the profession at a rate 79% greater than other teachers. In 2018, the board reported more than 5,900 lateral entry teachers, an increase of more than 32% since the program was first conceived, and the attrition rate of lateral entry teachers had grown — lateral entry teachers were leaving the profession at a rate 91.5% higher than their non-lateral entry colleagues. Providing flexible, high-quality instruction and one-on-one support

“Pathway to Practice NC really grounded me in why I chose to be a teacher. [It] has definitely made me a better educator. That’s what our kids need right now.”

Pathway to Practice NC Putting passion into practice

helped Patel succeed in the classroom and persist in the profession. Pathway to Practice NC provided her that instruction, support, and flexibility on her way to licensure.

Living and working in Union County would have meant a two-hour drive to Chapel Hill for Patel to participate in in-person classes. And online classes would have meant blocking out set times in the busy schedule of a new teacher.

“We recognize that first-year teachers face enormous demands and stress,” said Alison Winzeler, director of Pathway to Practice NC. “It is no small feat to also pursue a licensure program while teaching.”

Pathway to Practice NC provides online, asynchronous modules that Patel could complete when her schedule allowed. Each module was designed for her to embed within her own classroom.

“You’re given the autonomy to figure out how this could work in your classroom,” Patel said. “And then you implement it, reflect on it to figure out what could have gone better, change your approach, and do it again.

“You’re learning the content that they’re presenting to you, but you’re also learning about yourself as an educator and your students.”

Those modules range in topic and, ultimately, provide an invaluable set of skills in pedagogy, classroom management, content application, differentiation and strategies for engaging students based upon their age, development, and latest educational research.

Some modules Patel mastered quickly and moved on to the next. For other modules, she took more time to complete.

And along the way, particularly if she needed help mastering one of the modules, she received individual support from her assigned facilitator, Aimee Fraulo. All Pathway to Practice NC facilitators are doctoral candidates at either NC State or UNC-Chapel Hill and are former classroom teachers themselves.

“Aimee was such a huge support system for me,” Patel said. “Having that relationship with her was so influential in getting me through that year.

“Aimee was so consistent in her feedback and whenever I needed

something she was there to help. In addition to getting us licensed, the program is very supportive of us as people.”

Navigating edTPA

For any new teacher on their way to licensure, the edTPA can be a daunting step in the process.

One of the final modules of Pathway to Practice NC is totally devoted to that performance assessment.

“The module focused exclusively on edTPA really sets Pathway to Practice NC apart,” said Diana Lys, assistant dean for accreditation and educator preparation at the UNC School of Education. “We build edTPA into activities throughout the modules, so there is a foundation in place when it comes time to focus on edTPA.”

Patel said the program prepared her for it, even before that module.

“I didn’t realize this at first, but the way we wrote our lesson plans, no matter what module, were in the edTPA format,” she said. “So by the time you get to the edTPA, you’re like, ‘Oh, I know what I’m doing,’ because you’ve been practicing some of the pieces all along.”

Patel passed on her first edTPA attempt. To date, 100% of Pathway to Practice NC completers have passed edTPA; 90% have passed on their first attempt.

“When I turned it in, I felt confident that I did well,” she said. “I did do well, and I think that Pathway to Practice was a big reason as to why.”

To date, Patel is one of more than 400 residency license teachers — from more than 80 of North Carolina’s 115 districts — to enroll in Pathway to Practice NC. Each month, residency license teachers can apply and quickly begin work toward full licensure.

“Pathway to Practice NC really grounded me in why I chose to be a teacher,” Patel said. “And my relationship with Aimee gave me so much confidence, support, and encouragement.

“The program has definitely made me a better educator. That’s what our kids need right now.”

Pathway to Practice NC is residency license teachers’ most flexible path to licensure in North Carolina.

In a unique collaboration between the NC State College of Education and the UNC School of Education, Pathway to Practice draws upon the expertise of leading scholars and highly effective educators at North Carolina’s top public Educator Preparation Programs to deliver the highest quality online, competency-based education (CBE) to residency license teachers.

Since 2017, Pathway to Practice has enabled more than 400 residency license teachers — working full-time in more than 80 of the state’s 115 school districts — to work toward licensure at a pace that works for them.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

In 2020, Dana Griffin, Ph.D., an associate professor, began a 3-year term as the School’s inaugural dean’s fellow for diversity, equity, and inclusion. In her first year, Griffin listened and collected data with the intention of developing and implementing a strategic plan and additional programming.

In 2020-21 and in 2021-22, Griffin engaged faculty, staff, and students across the School and developed responsive, highimpact programs and trainings in an effort to help to bolster a community committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Fostering a diverse and inclusive community

The 2021-22 academic year was a great one for diversity, equity, and inclusion at the School, said Dana Griffin, Ph.D., dean’s fellow for diversity, equity, and inclusion.

“I was able to see the 2020-21 training sessions and recurring newsletters presented to the UNC School of Education community pay off,” Griffin said.

In 2021-22, Griffin saw increased engagement from faculty, staff, and students with issues related to diversity, equity, and inclusion. She also said more School of Education community members reached out to her, bringing necessary attention to new needs and highlighting new opportunities. In comparison with last year, Griffin also saw more faculty, staff, and students utilizing the individual meetings and consultations she offers. These meetings raised important issues and provided thoughtful discussions to address them.

Griffin noted another area of growth she saw in the previous year: Faculty members continue to review and refine their syllabi to ensure content is inclusive and accessible to all students.

The School continued to host a DEI book club that helps to connect its community members, and Griffin continues to send a recurring DEI email newsletter that shares campus-wide events and opportunities, connecting the School to on-campus peers.

In 2022-23, Griffin said she plans to continue all of the work done thus far and hopes to host even more community events, including monthly panels, movie and documentary nights with accompanying discussions, and affinity groups for students.

A new commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging

In the 2022-23 academic year, the UNC School of Education and the UNC School of Information and Library Science will hire a Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging. The person selected for the role will be a full-time staff member charged with leading the diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging efforts of both schools. They will help the School of Education and School of Library and Information Science realize their vision of inclusive excellence, organizations where diverse and talented people — faculty, staff, and students — want to come, stay, and do their best work.

The director of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging will serve as a member

of each school’s leadership team — initiating, leading, and sustaining efforts to expand diversity, bolster belonging, and promote the highest standards for inclusive excellence among faculty, staff, and students.

“With Dean’s Fellow for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Dana Griffin nearing the end of her 3-year term in the role, we have a responsibility to build upon her excellent work,” said Dean Fouad Abd-El-Khalick. “We are hopeful this new full-time staff member, solely focused on this critical work, will advance our School, the School of Information and Library Science, and the UNC campus in important, lasting ways.”

Students

Our students come from North Carolina and beyond, from careers in education and from a number of other fields and industries. Each student brings a unique perspective that enriches our classrooms, research labs, and the broader Carolina community. They all come to Carolina with a passion to redefine what it means to educate. When our students graduate, they take with them tools, knowledge, and experiences that will help them to propel the world through education.

Undergraduate

Enrollment by Program 194

EDUCATION

50

HUMAN AND ORGANIZATIONAL LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT (B.A.)

Master’s

MASTER OF SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION (M.S.A.)

MASTER OF EDUCATION FOR EXPERIENCED TEACHERS (M.ED.)

Race*

Not

MASTER OF ARTS IN TEACHING (M.A.T.)

SCHOOL COUNSELING (M.ED.)

Gender*

MASTER OF ARTS IN EDUCATIONAL INNOVATION, TECHNOLOGY, AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP (M.A.)

EDUCATION

CURRICULUM AND INSTRUCTION (ED.D.)

SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGY (PH.D.)

EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP (ED.D.)

Discovering the joys of teaching

Samantha Shaw (’22 M.A.T.) has discovered that teaching is about giving.

Shaw, the UNC School of Education’s Student Teacher of the Year, was surprised by that realization while student teaching high school English this past school year.

“I’m an introvert, so, for me, teaching feels like giving part of myself away every day,” Shaw said. “But what I didn’t know until I was in the classroom is that the kids will give themselves to you, too. If you are open and believe in them, find points of connection and interest, they will be vulnerable and take healthy risks in the classroom.

“It’s all about the classroom culture, and I love walking into a space that feels both safe and challenging every single day,” she added.

Shaw will walk into that space — and work to make points of connection with students — when in August she joins the staff at Carrboro High School, the same school where she did her student teaching.

Shaw grew up near Chapel Hill and majored in English and comparative literature at Carolina before joining the School of Education’s Master of Arts in Teaching program. As the School’s Student Teacher of the Year, she goes on to compete for statewide Student Teacher of the Year, an honor that will be announced in the fall.

Opening new worlds

Shaw had early exposure to the lives of educators, being the daughter of a staff member in the school that Shaw attended fourth through 12th grades.

“It was nice because I got to know my teachers, delivering the morning attendance folder every day with my mom, before I was ever in their class,” Shaw said.

Shaw said she had aspired to be a journalist or editor but discovered joy in teaching while she was an undergraduate student. During her senior year in high school, Shaw attended a summer journalism conference in Washington, D.C., then was recruited to work at the conference as an intern the summer following her first year at Carolina. In subsequent summers, she worked at the conference as a junior faculty advisor. In that role, she walked students through newsroom simulations and talked with them about their aspirations.

“At this conference, I found out that words really do have the power to change us,” said Shaw, who continues to aspire to be an author. “I saw it change my students, and it certainly changed me. Now, all I want to do is find the right words for my students, the words that open up a whole new world of possibility and promise.”

Anthony Swaringen is one of the Carrboro High School English teachers who worked with Shaw during her student teaching.

“I was nervous about mentoring a student teacher this year because I felt as if I were getting my own bearings as an in-person teacher again,” Swaringen said in a letter nominating Shaw for the award. “However, within a couple of weeks of getting to know Ms. Shaw, I realized that working with her was going to be a great experience for both of us.”

Swaringen said Shaw did a lot of independent reading and research on top of her regular coursework to understand the grading system used by English teachers at Carrboro High in which students receive narrative feedback on assignments rather than points, then are asked to propose their own grades.

“She was not content to merely adopt the system,” Swaringen said. “She wanted to understand it and make it her own as she moved from observing to full-time teacher.”

He said Shaw made the grading system a topic that she explored in her final course of the MAT program.

“I am thrilled that she is positioning herself to be a leader in the paradigm shift around assessment that is occurring in the English language arts community,” Swaringen said.

He added: “Ms. Shaw is so obviously devoted to being an outstanding teacher of English. I have seen it in her interactions with students and heard it in every question she has asked me. I have worked with several student teachers over the years and have mentored over 50 beginning teachers in my career, and I can confidently say that she is among the most promising beginning teachers I have had the opportunity to work with.”

Making connections

Jocelyn Glazier is an associate professor at the UNC School of Education who taught Shaw in two MAT courses. In a letter nominating Shaw for the recognition, Glazier said Shaw’s reflection on her own teaching was much like that of a seasoned educator.

“Sam is able to step back and consider her students’ experience in the class while simultaneously considering her role in fostering or inhibiting student learning,” Glazier wrote. “And then Sam acts in response to those critical reflections.”

Glazier added: “In a final paper for my class, Sam wrote: ‘I aim to craft an engaging and enriching environment by investing in the creation of a safe space where students feel comfortable being wrong, inprogress, and taking risks to become the best versions of themselves.’

“Sam was able to do this in her student teaching classroom,” Glazier wrote. “My spirit is buoyed by the knowledge that Sam will continue to do this for years to come.”

Shaw will teach ninth grade English and either 10th grade English or lead the yearbook class when the 2022-23 school year begins at Carrboro High.

“I feel so fortunate to have found a home there,” Shaw said. “The administration has their priorities in the same place I do, the fellow teachers are brilliant and happy to collaborate, and the staff is welcoming. Not to mention the students, who are extremely inquisitive.”

Shaw said she drew inspiration from teachers she had in high school “who made me see the world differently, but most importantly, they made me see myself differently. If they believed in me, why shouldn’t I?

“My goal is to connect with my students like they did with me.”

Producing the most effective teachers for high-need schools

A report — prepared for the University of North Carolina System by the Education Policy Initiative at Carolina — found that the UNC School of Education prepared North Carolina’s most effective teachers, especially in secondary STEM subject areas and for economically disadvantaged and minority students.

The report examined students’ North Carolina End-ofGrade exam scores from the 2012–13 through 2016–17 academic years to determine the effectiveness of teachers who graduated from UNC System universities. It calculated how many additional months of student learning were achieved in teachers’ classrooms beyond an expected number of months of learning.

Diana Lys, Ed.D., assistant dean for educator preparation and accreditation, said the results reflect emphases that the School and its faculty place on preparing students for helping the neediest students.

“We see it as part of our mission to address educational inequities through relationship building and student engagement,” Lys said. “These data indicate that we are having success preparing our teacher candidates to do just that.”

Among overall student populations, the report found students in a Carolina teacher’s classroom gained:

• Elementary math — 1.26 additional months

• Middle school math — 1.73 additional months

• Middle school science — 2.4 additional months

• High school biology — 2.2 additional months

Larger gains were seen among students from economically disadvantaged and minority populations, as well as from struggling schools.

Economically disadvantaged students gained:

• Middle school science — 3.3 additional months

• High school biology — 2.4 additional months

Minority students gained:

• Middle school math — 1.26 additional months

• High school biology — 2.3 additional months

Students within low-performing schools gained:

• Middle school science — 4 additional months

Graduate students collaborate for suicide prevention

Graduate students at Carolina are working to destigmatize and to support suicide prevention awareness to provide better training for the next generation of educators and clinicians in North Carolina and beyond.

Often a taboo topic, three Ph.D. students at the UNC School of Education came to study suicide prevention and recovery. Cari Pittleman, Katherine Ingram, and Karen Hall work with Marisa Marraccini, Ph.D., an assistant professor, on research and clinical initiatives which span from counseling provided in school settings to both outpatient and inpatient care.

“In both research and clinical practice, my primary lens into suicide and mental health is through relationships,” Ingram said. “There are many paths to contemplating suicide, and I am primarily focused on the powerful role, both supportive and traumatic, of interpersonal relationships in shaping mental health. It’s a very special research-practice cycle, where I have the honor of learning collaboratively with colleagues and patients alike.”

The graduate student trio — whose professional backgrounds range from classroom teaching to working with students with disabilities — saw the School’s school psychology program as a pathway to support children beyond the classroom. Their trajectory as doctoral students has broadened their understanding of the role schools play before, during, and after a child or adolescent has a suiciderelated crisis.

“I have benefited from their backgrounds in terms of different experiences and perspectives both Katie and Karen bring,” Pittleman said. “Suicide is a scary and uncomfortable issue; we want to study the different ways that school professionals support students but also

the ways in which the professionals themselves are treated.”

Marraccini, who is funded by a prestigious career-development grant from the National Institute for Mental Health (NIMH), supports children who are in crisis — and how schools, hospitals, and support systems respond if a child has a suicide-related crisis. The grant will help develop a mixed-reality supplement for suicide prevention treatment, incorporating virtual and augmented reality. Marraccini said school-based services for supporting children in crisis vary across the U.S., and her work aims to show how school connectedness and school-related supports can aid in prevention and recovery.

“At the core of all of the work that I and my students are doing, is this notion that these less-formal interactions with teachers and supportive adults throughout students’ lives can cumulatively play a protective role against health risk behaviors,” Marraccini explained.

“The thing that’s so incredible about the field of school psychology is that we’re experts in mental health, and we can support and consult in the context of where students really are: In the classroom,” she said. “For most kids, schools are their world.”

Marraccini explained, much of the existing research and current guidelines regarding suicide prevention are based on White, heteronormative populations that typically exclude students from underrepresented groups, including LGBTQ+ students, who are often more at risk for suicidal behaviors.

“These particular populations may be less likely to feel connected to their school; it can spin in another direction,” Marraccini said. “There’s a lot to be done.” ”

Finding our sources of strength for a healthier Carolina

Ashlen Wright

In spring 2022, Dorothy Espelage, Ph.D., William C. Friday

Distinguished Professor of Education, and doctoral student Anne Drescher led a class of undergraduates in “Sources of Strength,” a first-of-its-kind course at Carolina aimed at promoting mental health and preventing suicide.

The course — made possible by a $50,000 grant from the Triad Foundation — draws from Sources of Strength, a best practices youth suicide prevention project designed to harness the power of peer social networks to change unhealthy norms and culture. In class, Espelage and Drescher have introduced mental health research from a number of fields and provided students a place to explore facets of mental health in their lives. They hope to one day offer the course to every first-year student at Carolina.

Students in the class have launched a University-recognized club, engaging with students at events and planning advocacy campaigns. Ashlen Wright, president of the club and a junior studying Human Development and Family Science, reflects on the course and what she hopes for future Carolina students.

As an out-of-state student from North Dakota with plans to major in business, I can say with certainty that Carolina is a competitive place. We have high expectations for ourselves and for the world. We’re good students who have, for the most part, been successful.

For this reason, it’s difficult to admit when we’re struggling. When the pandemic forced us to remote learning, I struggled with the transition. I took time off and started tutoring— and fell in love with teaching kids and helping them with online schooling. When we came back to campus, I changed my major to Human Development and Family Science (HDFS) because of its focus on education and student well-being.

HDFS connected with my interest in mental health. In high school, a good friend passed away from suicide. That showed just how important addressing mental health is. Not long after, I became involved with a program that provided psychological services for high school students. The HDFS program also connected me with Dr. Espelage’s Research

Addressing Violence in Education (RAVE) Lab.

As I pursued my new major and contributed in the lab, I observed that more and more students struggled to adjust back to in-person schooling. Classmates were burned out from the financial, health, and academic pressures of COVID-19. It seemed impossible to maintain our past energy and passion for learning in the wake of the pandemic. Students needed more mental health support from the University. A class focused on student wellness and a new campus group felt so necessary. Bringing Sources of Strength, which the RAVE Lab has conducted research on, to UNC provided a perfect opportunity. It takes a different approach than most mental health programs, as it is peer-driven and strengths-based. It provides a prevention-focused, upstream solution to mental health crises on campus. We felt that it could provide a much-needed cultural shift around student wellness. This program has provided a space — sponsored and funded by the University — to really talk about mental health with other students. For me, that alone has been impactful.

In class, we’ve discussed our struggles and connections with mental health. We’ve dug into the eight sources of strength — which include family, friends, health activities, and more — to understand how we each can achieve well-being.

I also lead the Sources of Strength Club, which works across campus on outreach projects related to mental health. My goal right now is to connect with as many first-year students and sophomores as possible — students who will help this club flourish.

So what’s my hope for all of this — the course, the club, this campus?

I hope this course is offered next semester and beyond — to every student on campus. I hope the club continues to create awareness for student mental health. I hope we can to foster student-led support, so students don’t rely solely on campus counseling services. I hope the University continues to support the wellness of students.

Most importantly, I hope every Carolina student, now and in the future, will be healthy and feel whole.

Engaging communities, promoting health equity

Since middle school, Tatiana Aguilar’s career goal has been to work for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

That goal was a result of her experiences volunteering with the Boys and Girls Club in Charlotte as a teen. Aguilar said that many of the members she worked with were first-generation immigrant youth who lived in public housing or were from underrepresented communities.

“As a Boys and Girls Club volunteer, I realized that for many of the youth and families we served, access to health resources and services was a privilege, not a right,” Aguilar said. “This sparked my interest in health promotion and health equity.”

Turning her dream into a reality has been years in the making, and during the summer of 2022, Aguilar, a May 2022 graduate of the School’s Human Development and Family Studies (HDFS) — now Human Development and Family Science — program focusing on child health, began to fulfill that dream as a Project Imhotep intern.

Project Imhotep is Morehouse College’s 11-week, residential internship program in collaboration with the CDC. The program aims to increase the knowledge and skills of underrepresented students in biostatistics, epidemiology, and occupational safety and health.

Interns work with the CDC full-time from May through August, with a one-on-one mentorship. Interns receive a stipend, and by the end of the internship, they will have co-authored a paper for a scientific journal.

Seeking a major for community engagement

Aguilar began her time at UNC-Chapel Hill with neuroscience as her declared major. It wasn’t until her junior year that she decided to pivot. Aguilar realized she needed a major that would enable her to engage with members of the community. So, she switched her major to HDFS.

The HDFS program is an interdisciplinary pre-professional program that prepares Carolina undergraduates for careers or graduate programs in human services, counseling, allied health, and education. Students develop knowledge and skills to advocate for the well-being of children, youth, and families in diverse contexts.

“HDFS is a program that merges research, health, education, and

human services, which are all aspects I wanted out of a program,” Aguilar said. “This degree can help take me anywhere I want to go in the future.”

When Aguilar found out about the internship, she said she believed the opportunity would help her further thrive in learning about health equity.

“The intensive training that is provided by Project Imhotep will prepare me for professional public health research,” she said. “I look forward to establishing a network at the CDC.”

Mentorship fuels career possibilities

Within the HDFS program, Aguilar worked in Dorothy Espelage’s, Ph.D., RAVE Lab — which stands for Research Addressing Violence in Education — where she participated in research centered on making schools physically and psychologically safe for all students. Aguilar relied on the mentorship she received inside RAVE Lab, as well as in her classes, to be able to make this internship possible.

“This internship would not have happened without the mentorship that [HDFS program director] Helyne Frederick [Ph.D.] provided along with the intimate setting provided in this program,” Aguilar said. “You just don’t have that in every program at UNC, and it has been pivotal to my success in HDFS and beyond.”

In the months following her internship at the CDC, Aguilar will begin a Master of Public Health program in health behavior or health education and hopes to culminate her education with a Ph.D. in health behavior.

“As a Boys and Girls Club volunteer, I realized that for many of the youth and families we served, access to health resources and services was a privilege, not a right.”

Growing as a researcher, improving learning

As a doctoral student in the UNC School of Education’s Learning Sciences and Psychological Studies (LSPS) concentration, Rebekah Freed has had opportunities to pursue a range of research topics to help students learn better.

She was part of a team that helped establish EDUC 150: “The Science of Learning,” a course designed to help Carolina undergraduates thrive at a rigorous university. Students in the course are exposed to research from cognitive psychology and behavioral neuroscience that identifies the most effective methods of learning. That course is now a part of the undergraduate general requirements at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

“Learning is hard, and anything that can help it become easier is a welcome tool for students everywhere,” Freed said.

With her advisor, Jeff Greene, Ph.D., McMichael Family Professor, Freed has studied how first-generation college students transfer what they learned in “The Science of Learning” course to additional learning settings. She’s examined how students interact with new learning content on the computer and how students in active learning and flipped classrooms interact with learning management systems — to understand how to help student learning in academic settings.

Through her work with Greene, Freed has focused her dissertation on how a short activity involving students setting intentions can help them persist when faced with learning about difficult topics. This intention-setting activity has helped people achieve health goals, and Freed hopes that it can help students achieve their learning goals, as well.

Specifically, her research holds the potential to show the efficacy of an attainable, inexpensive tool in helping students persist and reach their educational goals. If successful, students could continue to use the intention-setting intervention, boosting their persistence in a learning task they anticipate being difficult.

To help conduct research for her dissertation, Freed applied for and won an American Rescue Plan Act Grant, which funds students if COVID-19 has delayed their program progress in any way. The $12,000 award will help Freed revamp the format of her study as the pandemic forced so many teachers and students to remote instruction.

Freed’s journey in educational psychology

Before pursuing her Ph.D. at Carolina, Freed lived in California — teaching preschool by day and teaching as an adjunct university psychology professor by night.

But she wanted more. Freed always had a dream of furthering her education and obtaining a Ph.D. in educational psychology. She wanted to become the best she could for her students, as well as for herself.

As she delved further into educational psychology, Freed encountered self-regulated learning, a field of research that focuses on giving students the tools and empowerment that they need to be able to reach their full potential. Greene, who is an expert in this exact topic, appeared in research Freed was reading so she applied to the School’s LSPS concentration.

Freed said she has created an extraordinarily strong relationship with her advisor that she could not find anywhere else. Greene has shared writing, research, and teaching experiences with her, she said, ensuring she had the training needed to complete every new role that she has taken on.

“Going through holistic growth and change made me a better, more secure and confident version of myself. I would not have been able to grow personally or professionally to this degree if I had chosen any other path,” Freed said.

Her next steps, after completing her dissertation, include a 2022 graduation and the hope of becoming an assistant professor, able to teach and research about how to improve learning.

Robinson wins Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship

Luz Robinson, a second-year doctoral student in the School Psychology program, won a Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship, a highly selective award that provides three years of support during pursuit of a doctorate.

The award from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine typically goes to only about 5% of applicants.

The award will support a project in which Robinson is creating a game intended to help elementary school students — especially Hispanic students — overcome mathematics anxiety and develop greater confidence in using mathematics. Robinson’s project includes a study of the effectiveness of the intervention, research that will contribute to her dissertation.

“Latinx students are the fastest-growing student demographic, but they are significantly underrepresented in the STEM workforce and have among the highest rates of those who do not graduate from high school,” Robinson said. “Mathematics is a core subject for STEM involvement, but for low-income and marginalized students, mathematics education is also a form of social justice because it can provide them with critical problem-solving skills such as financial literacy to liberate themselves and their families from the shackles of poverty.”

The game — called “I AM (Apply Math) in my world” — will include content culturally relevant for Hispanic students and present realworld problems solved through math. The game, which will include English and Spanish versions, is intended to give students practice with numbers and basic mathematical calculations, and socialemotional learning practices aimed at reducing math anxiety.

Already an experienced researcher

Robinson joined the School after graduating from the University of Florida with a Bachelor of Science in psychology, a Bachelor of Arts in international studies with a concentration in Latin America and the Caribbean, and minors in Portuguese and education.

In Florida, Robinson worked with Dorothy Espelage, William C. Friday Distinguished Professor of Education. Robinson has worked in Espelage’s Research Against Violence in Education (RAVE) Lab, first

as an undergraduate for two years, then as research coordinator, and now as a graduate research assistant. Robinson’s work with the RAVE Lab has focused on developing, implementing, and evaluating youth violence prevention initiatives for K-12 students.

Through that work, Robinson has co-authored 15 peer-reviewed publications, with an additional ten under review, six book chapters, and 12 conference submissions.

Strengths-based approach to helping marginalized youth

Robinson grew up in Miami in a multiethnic home — her mother is from Colombia, her father from the U.S., and her sisters from Venezuela.

Serving in clinical internships, she has worked with Hispanic infants, toddlers, and parents administering a neurodevelopmental assessment in Spanish designed to capture early signs of autism and to make recommendations for early intervention.

She has also worked as an intern at RTI International, a research institute located in North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park, in a National Institutes of Health-funded study of congenital Zika. In that project, Robinson examined early developmental outcomes data and disseminated findings in family-friendly formats to be shared with Brazilian families in Portuguese.

Robinson also works as a mental health therapist at El Futuro, a Durham-based outpatient clinic, providing culturally responsive care and delivering evidence-based interventions in Spanish and English to Hispanic children and families.

“As a multiracial Latina researcher in psychology, I am underrepresented in my field,” she said. “Upon graduation, I will pursue a tenure-track assistant professor position at a researchintensive university where I will teach and lead a diverse research team that develops, implements, and evaluates school-based initiatives to support historically marginalized students and families.

“I also aspire to collaborate with international scholars and develop interventions that are relevant for children and families who are multicultural and multilingual,” she said.

Student News

Jang wins NAECTE award

Wonkyung “Won” Jang, a doctoral candidate in the UNC School of Education, has been honored by the National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators with its NAECTE Foundation Doctoral Scholarship.

Jang was selected for the award, which includes $1,000 and doctoral student membership in NAECTE, from among nominations across the country.

The award is in support of Jang’s dissertation research, which focuses on early childhood teachers’ characteristics, complex talk, and children’s language and literacy development.

Jang, in his sixth year as a doctoral student at the School, also won a 2021 Tanner Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching by Graduate Teaching Assistants earlier this year. He has worked as a teaching assistant in both the Human Development and Family Science undergraduate program and the Early Childhood Intervention and Family Support specialty area of the Master of Education for Experienced Teachers program.

Morris and Zahran named Community Engagement Fellows

Doctoral students Wesley Morris and William Zahran have been named Community Engagement Fellows by the Carolina Center for Public Service, a recognition that provides support for their work with the UNC System.

The Community Engagement Fellowship program awards a maximum of eight fellowships annually of up to $2,500 to Carolina graduate and professional students who are working with an academic mentor on projects that are responsive to the needs of community partners.

Morris and Zahran, both students in the Policy, Leadership, and School Improvement concentration of the Ph.D. program, are working with the UNC System to create a data platform that will be used in two projects. One involves the study and evaluation of the effectiveness of NC Promise, the other seeks to understand trends in online education at colleges and universities and their implications on students’ outcomes.

Griffard named a 2022 David L. Clark Scholar

Megan Rauch Griffard, a doctoral candidate in the Policy, Leadership, and School Improvement concentration of the School’s Ph.D. program, has been named a David L. Clark Scholar by the University Council for Educational Administration.

Griffard was one of 37 doctoral students from across the country selected for the program.

The David L. Clark National Graduate Student Research Seminar in Educational Administration & Policy brings emerging scholars and noted researchers together for two days of presentations, discussion, and professional growth.

Griffard’s research focuses on the role of school principals in reducing stresses, demonstrating care, and limiting teacher turnover in the wake of a community’s exposure to a natural hazard, such as a hurricane.

Organizers of the seminar seek to recognize outstanding doctoral students preparing for careers in PK-12 educational leadership and administration, or who are seeking to pursue careers in PK-16 education policy research.

Development and Alumni Relations

The UNC School of Education proudly boasts more than 22,000 alumni across fields and professions. They are often distinguished, and many go on to earn teacher of the year, counselor of the year, and principal of the year distinctions in their schools, districts, regions, and states. And each possesses an unwavering commitment to students and educators and the foundational role that education plays in our world.

LIVING AND WORKING IN

22k

Alumni 50 States

ALL OF NORTH CAROLINA’S

100 Counties

AT ORGANIZATIONS THAT INCLUDE

Wake County Public School System

Durham Public Schools

Orange County Schools

Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools

Greene County Schools

Lee County Schools

Chatham County Schools

Guilford County Schools

Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools

North Carolina Department of Public Instruction

North Carolina Virtual Public School

U.S. Department of Education

UNC Office of Undergraduate Admissions

Northwestern University

Davidson College

University of Michigan

University of Missouri

North Carolina Central University University of Delaware

MetaMetrics

Edpuzzle

Code the Dream

Village of Wisdom

we are (working to extend anti-racist education)

The School District of Philadelphia

UNC School of Education is grateful to the many donors — individuals and organizations — who share our belief in the transformative power of education.

we continue to garner more support for innovative programs and groundbreaking research that hold the potential to change our fields in profound ways. These investments in the School provide us the opportunity to pursue promising projects and to respond to

Fundraising

UNC School of Education Board of Visitors

Our Board of Visitors convenes some of the best minds in North Carolina’s education landscape. Collectively, members have decades of educational and philanthropic experience in the state, and they graciously share that expertise as advocates for the School. Members include:

Michael D. Priddy (’70 A.B., ’75 M.Ed., ’81 Ed.D.)

Board Chair

Pitt and Bertie counties Superintendent (Retired)

Alison Cleveland (‘03 B.A., ’14 M.S.A.)

Principal Wakefield Middle School

Frank R. Comfort (’69 M.A.T.)

Head Swimming Coach (Retired)

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Fred Pfohl Crouch II (‘70 B.A., ’71 M.A.T.)

Social Studies Specialist (Retired)

Prince George County Schools

Robert Wendell Eaves Jr. (‘58 B.S.B.A.)

Owner, Chairman, and CEO (Retired)

The Right Stuff Food Stores

Paige Guest (’97 A.B.Ed.)

Marc Gustafson (’97 A.B.Ed.)

Attorney

Bell, Davis & Pitt, P.A.

Ronald Thayer Haskins

(‘68, B.A., ’70 M.A.T., ‘76 Ph.D.)

Senior Fellow, Economic Studies Brookings Institute

Gerry House (’88 Ed.D.)

President and CEO

Institute for Student Achievement

Harold Lillard Kennedy III (‘74 B.A.)

Partner/Attorney Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy

Moise Khayrallah (’93 Ph.D.)

CEO and Co-Founder

Emergo Therapeutics

Thomas Willis Lambeth (‘57 B.A.)

Senior Fellow

Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation

Christopher Riddick (‘00 B.A., ‘07 M.P.A.)

Head of Client Experience ReadySet

Malbert Smith III (‘77 M.Ed., ‘80 Ph.D.)

President and CEO MetaMetrics

Moyer Gray Smith Sr. (’61 A.B.Ed., ‘65 M.Ed.)

President (Retired)

The Rams Club

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Ann Gobbel Sullivan (’57 A.B.Ed.)

Willis “Bill” Whichard (‘62 B.A., ‘65 J.D.)

Attorney Tillman, Whichard & Cagle PLLC

Former N.C. Senator, Supreme Court Justice, and Dean of Campbell School of Law

Duncan Young (‘95 B.S.P.H.)

CEO

Effective School Solutions

Katie Young (’96 A.B.Ed.)

Kristen Smith Young (’01 A.B.Ed.)

Director of Community Relations University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Ex-Officio Members

Amy Rickard (’84 A.B.Ed., ’00 M.S.A.)

Principal, Morris Grove Elementary President, School of Education Alumni Council

The UNC School of Education is incredibly sad to share that Zollie Stevenson Jr. (’84 Ph.D.), a member of the Board of Visitors, died July 8, 2022.

We at the School were lucky to have known Zollie and are grateful for his dedication to Carolina and his unwavering commitment to education.

Thanks to the support of more than 50 donors — and an anonymous donor who made a $2,000 challenge gift — the School’s Master of Arts in Teaching program sent every member of its Class of 2022 into their first classroom with supplies and School of Educationbranded items.

The crowd-funded online giving campaign continues to leverage contemporary fundraising tools to engage alumni and donors in support of the next generation of North Carolina’s most effective educators.

Sending Tar Heel teachers into their first classrooms

Alumni Relations

We are proud to know that the knowledge and experiences gained in Peabody Hall create positive impact inside schools and across fields. The School has one of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s largest alumni bases, boasting 22,000 alumni living in all 100 North Carolina counties, all 50 states, and more than 40 countries.

Alumni Council

The members of the Alumni Council represent a range of alumni in terms of their professional experience. They provide insights from that experience to inform our work to improve teaching and learning. The council is the governing body for the School of Education’s alumni. It includes the following members:

Officers

President

Amy Rickard (’94 A.B.Ed., ’00 M.S.A.)

Past President

Michael D. Priddy (’70 A.B., ’75 M.Ed., ’81 Ed.D.)

Secretary

Carole Symons Roebuck (’63 A.B.Ed.)

Members

Eliza M. Brinkley (’18 M.A.T.)

Barbara Holland Chapman (’81 Ph.D.)

Kristal Moore Clemons (’09 Ph.D.)

Eliz Colbert (’86 B.A., ’95 M.Ed.)

Laura Colson (‘99 A.B.Ed.)

Belinda Corpening (’72 A.B.Ed., ’73 M.Ed.)

Ed Dunlap (’79 Ph.D.)

Nancy Farmer (’69 A.B.Ed., ’70 M.Ed., ’81 Ed.D.)

Sandrika Freeman (‘20 B.A.Ed.)

Dan Gilfort (’03 M.S.A.)

text doesn’t fit!

Linda C. Hutchinson-Harmon (’74 M.Ed., ’83 Ph.D.)

Lynne Cannon Johnson (’85 A.B.Ed., ’95 M.Ed.)

Oliver Johnson (’84 Ph.D.)

Arthur Kamiya Jr. (’78 M.A.T.)

Shea Grisham Linden (’08 A.B.Ed., ’14 M.Ed.)

Larry Mabe (’93 Ed.D.)

David A. “Gus” Martin (’73 M.Ed., ’82 Ph.D.)

Mary Faith Mount-Cors (’10 Ph.D.)

Mia Murphy (’12 Ed.D.)

James Overman (’99 M.S.A.)

Melissa Rasberry (’98 A.B.Ed., ’03 M.S.A., ’07 Ed.D.)

Cindi Rigsbee (’79 A.B.Ed., ’03 M.Ed.)

Mitzi Safrit (’89 A.B.Ed.)

Kelli Hayner Smith (’00 M.Ed.)

William P. Steed (’87 Ed.D.)

Sarah S. Stephens (’09 A.B.Ed., ’19 M.S.A.)

School of Education Faculty Representatives

Chris Scott (’03 M.S.A., ’08 Ed.D.)

School of Education Staff Representatives

Fouad Abd-El-Khalick

Morgan Ellis (’07 A.B.J.M.)

Megan Garrett (’08 A.B.J.M., ’16 M.P.A.)

Terri Jackson (’84 A.B.J.)

Laurie Norman (’83 B.S.)

Recognizing alumni excellence

The UNC School of Education honored three alumni at its 19th Distinguished Alumni Awards Dinner in October 2021.

Those honored at the event were former Chief Justice of the N.C. Supreme Court Sarah Parker (’64 A.B.Ed., ’69 J.D.), left; Elena Ashburn (’12 M.S.A., ’18 Ed.D.), North Carolina’s 2021 Principal of the Year, middle; and William Jackson (’18 Ph.D.), founder and leader of Village of Wisdom in Durham, second from left.

Alumni Notes

During the past year, the UNC School of Education proudly shared news from its alumni that included the following headlines:

Michelle Bryan (‘98 M.A.T., ‘06 Ph.D.) named associate vice president for diversity, equity, and inclusion at the University of South Carolina

W. Ross Bryan (‘05 Ph.D.) named associate dean of student development and engagement for The University of Alabama Honors College

Whitley Burleson (‘17 B.A.Ed.) named 2022-23 Teacher of the Year at Fairview Elementary in Buncombe County

Victoria Creamer (’97 A.B.Ed., ’07 M.S.A.) named Durham Public Schools 2021-22 Principal of the Year

Frank Creech (‘00 M.S.A., ‘05 Ed.D.) named Greene County Schools superintendent

Jamie Cox (‘08 M.Ed., ‘13 M.S.A.) named Lee County Schools 2021-22 Principal of the Year

Emilie Fallon (‘19 B.A.Ed., ‘20 M.A.T.), Maggie Morrison (‘18 B.A.Ed., ‘19 MAT), and Sarah Grace Patton (‘18 B.A.Ed., ‘19 MAT) each named Beginning Teacher of the Year at schools in Durham Public Schools

Paul Fitchett (‘99, ‘00 M.S.A., ‘08 Ed.D.) named professor and head of the Department of Curriculum and Teaching at the Auburn University College of Education

William Jackson (‘18 Ph.D.) spoke about protecting Black genius on PBS NewsHour’s ‘Brief But Spectacular’ series; Jack also won $1 million award from the Cleveland Avenue Foundation for Education for work to support Black students

Nikki Lobczowski (‘19 Ph.D.) recognized with 2021 Paul R. Pintrich Outstanding Dissertation Award from Division 15 (Educational Psychology) of the American Psychological Association

Leslie Locklear (‘13 B.A.Ed., ‘14 M.Ed.) named director of educator engagement and student success at the UNC Pembroke School of Education

Assistant Dean for Educator Preparation and Accreditation Diana Lys (‘94 B.A., ‘97 M.A.T., ‘07 Ed.D.) appointed to Executive Committee of N.C. Association for Colleges of Teacher Education

Patrick Miller (’93 B.M.Ed.) retired as Greene County Schools superintendent

Cathy Moore (‘97 M.S.A.) named national superintendent of the year by Magnet Schools of America

Eileen Parsons (‘89 B.S. Science Teaching), Ph.D., selected chair of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s newly created Committee on Equity in PreK-12 STEM Education

Jim Ptaszynski (‘78 B.A., ‘89 Ph.D.), vice president of digital learning for the University of North Carolina System, was named one of the top 100 influencers in edtech by EdTech Digest

Tony Watlington (‘00 M.S.A., ‘08 Ed.D.) named next superintendent of The School District of Philadelphia