Educational, Policy, Planning and Leadership (EPPL) Alumni and Student News, Fall Conferences
Read about exciting conferences, faculty, alumni and student news
Welcome to the Alumni/Student News!
We love to hear from you and learn of your recent ventures in education,
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Don't forget to see the Conference information below for more on
alumni, students, and faculty
Angela Allen was recently named the Principal at Glen Allen Elementary School in Henrico County.
Cynthia Felix Burns (EdD Higher Education) reports that "after 11 years on the administrative faculty at the University of Virginia School of Law, I am relocating with my husband to Nicosia, Cyprus where he has been called as the pastor of Nicosia Community Church."
Ed Holler, principal of Grafton Middle school and alumnus, presented with Christopher Gareis, Associate Dean for Teacher Education and Professional Services, W&M M.Ed. student Ashley Clouser and W&M alumna Leslie Grant, and other colleagues in November, 2009. The presentation was entitled "Well-constructed assessments: Giving you the information you need to make decisions about and for student learning". It was presented at the annual conference of the National Middle School Association (NMSA) in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Jodi Fisler (MEd '05) EPPL Higher Ed program, earned a Ph.D. at William and Mary School of Education and reports that she "began work as Assistant to the Vice President for Student Affairs here at W&M in September".
Karen M. Greenhaus (CET Program) recently became the Professional Development Manager at Key Curriculum Press, Inc., a national publisher of mathematics textbooks and software focused on inquiry-learning in mathematics. She develops and implements online software courses, online professional development, and face-to-face professional development workshops and seminars for teachers of mathematics, as well as coordinates a cadre of over 200 consultants.
Christopher Gareis, Associate Dean for Teacher Education and Professional Services, and another colleague in December, 2009. The presentation was entitled, "Constructing effective and meaningful assessment for the classroom". The team presented at the annual conference of the Virginia Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development in Williamsburg, Virginia.
Veronica Kouassi was appointed to the 2009-2012 State Advisory Committee for the Education of the Gifted by the State of Virginia. Kouassi currently serves as Assistant Director, Appomattox Regional Governors School (ARGS) in Petersburg. She is a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army and an active member of the Army Reserve, having served for over 27 years. Kouassi also enjoys being a mentor and role model for teenage girls and young women in her community and school.
Brigham Lampert, M.Ed. Gifted Education, - recently published Advanced Placement Classroom: Romeo and Juliet as part of Prufrock Press' new series of guides for teaching Shakespeare in Advanced Placement and Gifted classrooms. Mr. Lampert is one of only four instructors in the country, at either the secondary or collegiate level, asked to author a book in this series, which also includes Hamlet, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Macbeth. Mr. Lampert stated: "This is the seventh work of guidance for teaching Shakespeare in the classroom that I have written, though it is by far the largest and most national. The others were written for William and Mary's Center for Gifted Education." Mr. Lampert is a National Board Certified teacher of English Language Arts and is Curriculum Leader for the English Department at Jamestown High School. He was nominated for the 2006 Disney Teacher Award for outstanding creativity in the classroom. He received his B.A. in English from Haverford College and is presently pursuing his Ed.D. in curriculum leadership at the College of William and Mary, where he was awarded an Excellence in Gifted Education scholarship and received his Masters in Education.
Christian Lesnett is the Assistant Principal at Burgettstown Middle/High School in Burgettstown, Pennsylvania, about 25 minutes west of Pittsburgh. "Please feel free to use me as a contact for any students you may have in the future that are looking to work in the Pittsburgh area ... I am changing the world one student at a time."
Karen Work Richardson is pleased to report that she is getting closer to her goal of working from home in her pajamas thanks to several School of Education projects including the STEM Education Alliance and the Tidewater Team for Math Education. In addition, she is developing courses and teaching online for PBS and Virginia Commonwealth University. Richardson also continues to serve on the Board of Directors for the Virginia Society for Technology In Education and writes an educational technology column for The Virginia Journal of Education.
Danielle Ross accepted the position of Assistant Principal at Middlesex High School in Virginia for the 2009-2010 school year. Danielle received her M.Ed. in the Educational Policy, Planning, and Leadership program in May 2009.
Recent Conference Participants
The College of William and Mary School of Education EPPL Program was well represented at several national conferences including: the ASHE Conference held in Vancouver, Canada; the CREATE Conference in Louisville, Kentucky; and UCEA in Anaheim, California. Below is a summary of conference presentations conducted by School of Education faculty, alumni, and students:
Seated: Jeremy Martin (doctoral student), Nathan Alleman (visiting professor), Neal Holly (doctoral student). Standing: Dot Finnegan (Associate Professor), Pamela Eddy (Associate Professor), Christen Cullum (doctoral student), Jobila Williams (doctoral student)
Dot Finnegan
- Council on International Higher Education: Executive Committee Member-at-Large
- ASHE Monograph Series Advisory Board Member
- Co-presenter with Nathan Alleman
- Research Paper Presentation: Freshman Daze: The Origins of Orientation Programs
- Research Paper Presentation: Absorbing Slack: An Historical Analysis of Central and Peripheral Campus YMCAs
- Discussant for research papers: Discourses of Education in Multinational Contexts
- Presidential Panel Member: Celebrating the Mentor and Mentee Relationship
- Research Paper Presentation: Transforming a System: The Role of Funded Research Partnerships in Ireland
- Research Paper Presentation (co-author Amanda Moynihan): Finding the Ideal Faculty: Intersections of Academic Identity and Institutional Expectations
- Roundtable Presentation (co-presenters Regina Garza-Mitchell & Brigitte Bechtold): Research Collaborations: Reflection and the Creation of Thought Communities
- Discussant for research papers: Qualitative Research: Exploring Varied Approaches
Neal Holly and Jeremy Martin
- Research Presentation: The Anatomy of Presidential Leadership: Environmental Elements Coupled with Personality Traits Forge a Future
- Jeremy Martin was selected to participate in the Graduate Student Policy Pre-conference
Christen Cullum and Jobila Williams
- Attended ASHE for the first time and took advantage of attending sessions and networking. Christen noted, "Highlights of the conference for me were some of the grad student sessions (i.e. round tables with scholars with your research interests), getting ideas for presentations for next year, and getting the feel for the professorate life."
CREATE (Consortium for Research on Educational Accountability)
The 19th Annual National Evaluation Institute hosted by the W&M School of Education and held in the new School of Education building October 7 - 9, 2010. The conference theme was Assessment and Evaluation for Learning.
Leslie Grant, James Stronge, Yaling Sun, Catherine Little
"What Do Great Teachers Do? Results from an International Comparative Study"
Teachers are the single most influential school-based factor on student achievement and knowing what outstanding teachers do serves to enlighten how to adequately assess the complexity of their work. Presenters will share results from cross-case analyses regarding the teaching practices and beliefs of national award-winning teachers from the United States, China, Australia, and New Zealand.
Trina Spencer
"Educational Accountability, Educational Leadership, and the Novice Teacher"
This session examined the relationship between accountability, educational leadership, and the novice teacher. The presentation defined accountability and described its affects on school leadership and the novice teacher. Spencer presented strategies on how school leaders can support and assist novice teachers in this age of accountability
Xianxuan Xu, James Stronge, Leslie Grant
"Effective Teachers in the United States and China: A Comparative Analysis"
How do the qualities of effective teachers and their impact on student achievement compare between teachers in the United States and China? This presentation developed a cross-cultural understanding about teachers' impact on students' academic achievement and what teacher qualities account for the variation in teachers' effectiveness.
James Stronge, Sharmaine Grove
"Assessing Teacher Quality: A Comparison of Elementary, Middle and High School Principals' Perceptions of Teacher Effectiveness"
Are principals knowledgeable of what constitutes an effective teacher? This study solicited input from principals regarding the importance of teachers' content knowledge, verbal ability, classroom management, preparation, ethic of care, reflective practice, instructional planning and delivery, and alignment of curriculum, instruction, and assessment. Analysis of findings and implications for teacher effectiveness are presented.
Patricia Moore Shaffer, Jacob Joseph, Suzanne Mann, and Karen Schaeffer
"Assessing the Effectiveness of Alternative Teacher Certification Programs: An Exploratory Case Study of EducateVA, A Career Switcher Program of Virginia's Community Colleges"
Utilizing a case study approach, this paper examined the effectiveness of EducateVA, an alternative teacher certification program (ATCP). Through a review of program documentation, an interview with the program director, and a survey of graduates, researchers compared the program to known characteristics of effective ATCPs identified through a literature review.
Patricia Moore Shaffer
"Using Participatory Methods to Develop a Professional Development Evaluation Framework: A Case Study
A case study is presented describing the development of an evaluation framework for a national teacher professional development initiative. Using participatory methods including a stakeholder advisory group, interviews, and collaborative logic model development, the evaluator facilitated a process through which program stakeholders played an active role in developing the framework. BELL, a national nonprofit providing educational out-of-school time programming for youth living in low-income urban communities, shared best-practices and techniques for evaluating student achievement and measuring program outcomes. BELL also shared how to use the data to guide internal decisions while also showcasing outcomes to external parties.
Chris Gareis, Leslie Grant
"Improving Teachers' Competency in Classroom-Based Assessment"
"Assessment" is a critically important domain of professional responsibility for classroom teachers. However, it is also an area of relative weakness for many novice and veteran teachers alike. This session provides a model for professional development that targets essential knowledge and practical skills associated with assessment literacy. The model is illustrated by authentic teacher work samples of classroom-based assessments and the use of assessment for learning principles.
UCEA (University Council for Educational Administration) Conference
Sharmaine D. Grove, James H. Stronge
A Comparison of Elementary, Middle, and High School Principals' Teacher Selection Practices
In an effort to attract and hire highly qualified teachers for all learners, the No Child Left Behind Act mandated that all children receive an equitable, quality education (National Association of Secondary School Principals, 2003). With increasing enrollments, teacher attrition, and various local, state, and federal mandates, school districts across the University's have found themselves in a quandary regarding locating "highly qualified" teachers. "Highly qualified teachers" and "high quality teachers" are not synonymous because it is possible for a teacher to meet the mandates for a "highly qualified" endorsement, yet not exhibit qualities of an effective teacher (Stronge, 2007). Teacher recruitment and selection - as well as retention - are vital in ensuring students receive an education under the tutelage of capable and high quality teachers.
Leslie Grant, Xianxuan Xu, James H. Stronge, Catherine A. Little, and Yaling Sun
Teacher Beliefs and Practices in the United States and China: A Comparative Analysis
What are the qualities of national award-winning teachers from the United States and China? This session presented the findings of an international comparative study that focused on the beliefs and practices of outstanding teachers in both countries. Emergent themes from interview data were presented along with a comparative analysis of outstanding teaching in the United States and China.
