Lavare Henry, Ph.D. ’23 awarded competitive summer fellowship with The Learning Partnership
Lavare Henry, Ph.D. ’23 was recently awarded the competitive summer fellowship with The Learning Partnership for Summer 2023 in Chicago, Illinois. The Learning Partnership is a member of the Chicago Alliance for Equity in Computer Science (CAFÉCS). Other CAFÉCS organizations include the Chicago Public Schools (CPS), DePaul University, Loyola University, and University of Illinois Chicago. In 2016, the Chicago Board of Education enacted a policy making computer science a graduation requirement. Through the summer fellowship Henry will work with a team at The Learning Partnership to analyze the effectiveness of a hybrid version of the introductory computer science for credit recovery to ensure that students who initially failed their introductory computer science class will have another opportunity to successfully fulfill the graduation requirement.
This summer fellowship is the perfect opportunity for Henry to collectively use all his varied expertise to influence educational policy. Henry, who is currently a Ph.D. student in the Educational Policy, Planning & Leadership (EPPL) in K-12 Administration program, earned his master’s in computer science prior to coming to William & Mary. Not only is he excited to use his expertise but also sees the value that his graduate program will bring to his summer work, “The EPPL program is very intentional. Through various courses, students complete work together to help them understand the current issues that are affecting policy. And to get at the root of policy, you need methodology. My program evaluation course will help me to evaluate programs, input, and outcomes. It all comes together nicely to give me a perspective that will be beneficial to the fellowship.” In addition to being able to lean on his computer science background and educational leadership and research expertise, Henry is looking forward to this fellowship providing him with real-world experience in educational policy analysis.
President of The Learning Partnership, Steven McGee, Ph.D., comments on his excitement to bring Henry onto the team this summer, “In speaking with Henry and his advisors, I learned about the Educational Policy, Planning, and Leadership program at William & Mary. I am very impressed with the program and the educational experiences that Henry has received. He has developed expertise in creating high quality empirical investigations that have profound practical applications. We are excited for Henry to apply what he has learned to investigate an important issue related to ensuring that all Chicago students succeed in a meaningful, rigorous computer science course. Henry will contribute to The Learning Partnership’s mission of collaboratively engaging in rigorous research that both informs solutions and contributes to educational theory.”
Henry also sees the great value of this fellowship and is excited about the opportunity to learn from this experience to enrich the science education system in Jamaica. “There is a serious challenge in science in Jamaica. Computer science is an important 21st century skill and I am always happy to consider how schools teach it - is there something I could borrow to use in my country?”
Finally, Henry sees much potential for growth from the experience. “I hope to build my practical skills in working with a large data set, refine my quantitative methods skills in different contexts, learn from a new system, work with others as I develop my research experience, and gain knowledge about the computer science program as well as how policy works and is implemented in another context and how policy analysts can affect policy.”
Henry feels significant gratitude to the EPPL professors who supported him during his application process, “I would like to thank my professors: James Stronge, Leslie Grant, and Tom Ward for their support during the application process and my pursuance of this summer fellowship.”
