School of Education

School of Education
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The American University School of Education is currently accepting graduate applications!

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Raise Your Hand for Equity in Education

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Teacher shortages, lack of diversity, outdated policies, inequitable access - learn how to be a part of the evolution of the education system at the American University School of Education.

In the world of education, some of the most passionate teachers find their calling through unexpected paths. Juilenne Townsend-Sanders' story is a testament to the power of perseverance, lifelong learning, and the profound impact of discovering one's true purpose. After teaching for 32 years, "I'm still in the honeymoon phase of this job!" she exclaims. READ MORE
 

Dixon witnessed firsthand how a positive educational environment could transform the lives of his family members with special needs. This experience, coupled with his own academic and athletic journey, shaped his path to becoming an educator. Imagine going from tackling opponents on the football field to tackling learning disabilities in the classroom. That's the remarkable journey of Charles Dixon, a former Division I football star now pursuing a Master of Arts in teaching (MAT) special education with a concentration on learning disabilities. READ MORE

Jesse Lima, SOE/MAT ’24

Using what he’s learned from AU’s School of Education, the DC Public Schools first-grade teacher Jesse Lima, Master of Arts in Teaching ’24, is shaping the next generation of Washington learners at Janney Elementary School in Tenleytown. “Diversity means including everyone,” Lima said. “In our classroom community, we are all seen.”

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Emmett Till

Racism and Disabilities

Dr. Antonio L. Ellis wrote this piece in Diverse: Issues in Higher Education about Emmett Till's experiences as a person of color and a stuttering disability.

 

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70 Years Later: Critical Education Policy to Live Out the Promise of Brown v. Board of Education

Did Brown v. Board of Education Fulfill its Promise?

Watch this insightful webinar today!

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2024 RETL Students at Orientation

From Classroom to Career:

AU's Groundbreaking Teaching Residency Program's first cohort has arrived!

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Two SOE ITEP students visit Japan, joining researches and other students

SOE Students Travel to Japan

ITEP students were among researchers and other students exposed to Japan’s society and culture.

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Maya Angelou Schools Student Learning

Teaching Those Most in Need

Dr. Clarisse Mendoza Davis, ’08, runs toward the students that everyone else could not reach.

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A calendar with a mortarboard

Fall 2024 Academic Calendar

If you're a potential student, student, parent, or community member, check out the fall 2024 academic calendar.

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Learn about SOE Accomplishments

  • Senior Professorial Lecturer DeCuir won the Article of the Year Award from the American Educational History Journal, acknowledging her noteworthy contributions to the field of educational history in her article “Up North, Black Families Walked Out: Counternarratives of Jim Crow School Resistance, 1930-1935.” [October 15, 2024]

  • Assistant Professor Dr. Robert D. Shand was quoted in this Chalkbeat story commenting on a recent report on the effects of comprehensive education reforms in Denver. [October 15, 2024]

  • Professor Dr. Corbin M. Campbell's research was quoted in this Washington Post piece about how the quality that matters most to college applicants gets overlooked by current school rankings. [October 15, 2024]

  • Get to know Dr. Amaarah DeCuir in this Q&A about teaching research methods. [October 15, 2024]

  • Dr. Amaarah DeCuir traveled to Malaysia to speak at the International Educators Conference, attended the Global Association of Islamic Schools’ Malaysia Retreat, spoke at the Workshop on Prophetic Pedagogy at the International Islamic University of Malaysia, and met with the education faculty at the National University of Malaysia. [October 15, 2024]

  • Dr. Antonio L. Ellis was the keynote speaker in Bucharest, Romania, at the International Centre for Innovation in Education’s annual conference. His presentation was titled “Navigating Equity: Exploring Perceptions of Fair Treatment among University Staff Members.” [October 15, 2024]

  • Senior Associate Dean Dr. Rodney Hopson was awarded a National Science Foundation supplemental grant with the SEAS Island Alliance project, intended to empower underrepresented students from Guam, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands “to pursue their interest in marine and environmental sciences through scientific and professional development training and mentorship." [October 15, 2024]

  • Dr. William Thomas IV, Director of the EdD Program, co-authored an article on responsive lesson planning and reflection that centers the motivation of both teachers and public school students, in Perspectives on Urban Education.  [October 15, 2024]

  • Dr. Rodney Hopson published "'That Does Not Apply': Graduate Students' (Mis)Perceptions of the Racial Climate in STEMM" in the journal Studies in Graduate and Postdoctoral Education, and edited the book Theories Bridging Ethnography and Evaluation: Making Transformative, Intersectional, and Comparative Connections for the Emerald Book series Studies in Educational Ethnography.  [October 15, 2024]

  • Dr. Eugene Pringle, Senior Professorial Lecturer, was the lead editor of Teacher Preparation as Social Activism at Historically Black Colleges and Universities, part of the Teacher Education Series, with SOE’s Dr. William N. Thomas IV, Dylan Ravdin (MEd '23), Brianna Nargiso (EdD '25), Keyana Terry (EdD '25), and Dr. Ocheze Joseph each co-authoring a chapter.  [October 15, 2024]

  • Professor Dr. Jennifer Steele authored the piece "JD Vance Knows Better" regarding the power and importance of education subsidies in Salon.  [October 15, 2024]

  • Dr. Robert Shand published "The Relationship Between Teacher Collaboration and Instructional Practices, Instructional Climate, and Social Relations” in the journal Educational Policy.  [October 15, 2024]

  • Dr. Corbin Campbell, Professor, was quoted in the Washington Monthly article "Why Professors Can’t Teach," which discusses academics' struggle to impart their knowledge to students. [September 16, 2024]

  • Senior Professorial Lecturer Dr. Antonio L. Ellis penned a Diverse: Issues in Higher Education op-ed on how the intersection of race and disability is an overlooked aspect of Emmett Till's story. [September 16, 2024]

  • Professor Dr. Jennifer Steele was featured in The National Desk news segment "Educators Want a Post-Pandemic Reset" and was quoted in both the CBS News story "How Schools' Long Summer Breaks Started, Why Some Want the Vacation Cut Short" and The Baltimore Sun story "Educators Call for Post-Pandemic Reset, Overhaul of Current System." [September 16, 2024]

  • Dr. Samantha Cohen, Senior Professorial Lecturer, co-wrote an article on the importance of equity-mindedness in The CRTL Beat. [September 16, 2024]

  • Dr. Bridget Trogden, Professor, talked with Inside Higher Ed in "Can Professors Get Some STEM Students to Vote?" [September 16, 2024]

  • SOE Professors Dr. Sarah Irvine Belson and Dr. Alida Anderson, with Adjunct Instructor Dr. Jasmine Rogers and Professorial Lecturer Anne Karabell, presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading in Copenhagen, Denmark. [September 16, 2024]

  • Adjunct Senior Professorial Lecturer Dr. Altheria Caldera appeared on NPR’s Open to Debate program, where she advocated the value of teaching social justice issues in K-12 schools. [September 16, 2024]

  • Assistant Professor Dr. Robert Shand co-published the educational policy article “The Relationship Between Teacher Collaboration and Instructional Practices, Instructional Climate, and Social Relations,” detailing the importance of teacher collaboration. [September 16, 2024]

  • Professorial Lecturer Dr. Jisun Jeong co-authored a chapter, "A Complex Global Governance of Education: Multiscalar Social and Emotional Learning Policy Making in Lebanon," in the e-book, Researching Global Education Policy: Diverse Approaches to Policy Movement. [September 16, 2024]

VIEW ADDITIONAL FACULTY AND STAFF ACCOMPLISHMENTS

  • Dr. Jasmine Rogers (EdD '23 and SOE adjunct faculty) was a guest on the Leading Literacy Podcast where she spoke about her time in AU's Doctorate in Education program. [October 15, 2024]

  • Julie Corbett (EdD '25) was also quoted in the Chicago Tribune about a the resignation of the entire Chicago Public School Board of Education. [October 15, 2024]

  • Julie Corbett (EdD '25) presented at the 2024 Cradle to Career Network Convening in Salt Lake City, UT, discussing Norwalk ACTS' Civic Influencer Program (the foundation of her doctoral dissertation). [October 15, 2024]

  • Dr. Nara Nayar, EdD '27, published “What Accurate Identification Means for Indigenous Students, and the Challenges of Doing So” in the American Institutes for Research, examining data about the education of Indigenous people. [October 15, 2024]

  • MEd student Carlos Gamez’s paper, “Student Growth on a Statewide Progress-Monitoring Assessment System by District,” was accepted by the Florida Journal of Educational Research. [October 15, 2024]

  • Education studies minor Felicity Chapman, SOC/BA ’26won the prestigious 2024–26 Obama-Chesky Voyager Scholarship and up to $50,000 in financial aid. [September 16, 2024]

  • Carl Felton, III, MEd '23, policy analyst at EdTrust, wrote a blog post promoting tutoring, extending learning time, and teachers building relationships with students. [September 16, 2024]

  • Teaching Fellows Tatiana Ellis, BA '26, and Luis Paredes Alvizurez, BA '27, taught DCPS Generation Teach (GT) STEAM Academy participants math and engineering as part of their GT Summer Teaching Fellowship, promoting teaching in diverse communities. [September 16, 2024]

  • The Black Code, a documentary by EdD program alum Dr. Sharice Lane, '24, is a Student Film category finalist for the 2024 Lane Doc Fest. The film analyzes the cultural responsiveness of English language arts (ELA) instruction. [September 16, 2024]

  • Pamela Harris, CAS/MEd '73 and SOE/EdD '25, with husband Tyrone, SOC/BA '72 and WCL/JD '75, won the 2024 Volunteer Impact Award at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Ebony Eagles of Excellence celebration, for their dedication to advancing the global Black community. [September 16, 2024]

  • EdD alum Dr. Dia L. Jones, '22, will facilitate a workshop at STEMNoire 2024: Black Women Leading the STEM Renaissance Conference which will provide attendees with tools to build their belongingness capacity in STEM spaces. She will also present research to support increased participation of Black girls and women in STEM at this summer's Black Gaze Symposium. [May 28, 2024]

  • EdD student Julie Corbett, '25, was one of the subjects of a The Hour article, "Chalk Talk: A Diverse Group of Norwalkers Are Being Trained to Be Civic Influencers," which detailed a program she designed enabling diverse citizens of Norwalk, CT, to participate in a civics lesson on local government. [May 28, 2024]

  • EdD alum Dr. Iris Bond Gill, '24, has been named a New America Fellow. The program invests in thinkers who generate big, bold ideas that have an impact and spark new conversations about the most pressing issues of our day. [May 28, 2024]

  • EdD student Darla Davenport-Powell, ’24, plays the role of the family matriarch Lucy Bell in the slavery-centered live-animation documentary The Bell Affair, which explores freedom lawsuits of US slaves and recently began streaming on Amazon Prime. [April 24, 2024]

  • Education Policy and Leadership (EPL) MEd students Lauren GustafsonMeanha Kim, and Kwand Lang, Jr. of Dr. Phelton Moss’s proseminar course are partnering with Opportunity Consulting to develop a series of toolkits for school leaders with strategies to bolster school improvement efforts. EPL MEd students Jarren NewbyKissiah Valle, and Angeliki Papari-Kosiori accompanied Moss to a Capitol Hill roundtable discussion he organized and facilitated for Black and Latino school superintendents from across the country and the education policy advisors of President Biden and Vice President Harris. [April 24, 2024]

SUBMIT YOUR ACCOMPLISHMENT HERE