February 24, 2022
Faculty, alumni publish writing on improvement efforts, learning models
Cover art for “Improvement Science: Promoting Equity in Schools”
Dr. Moraima Machado, a 2021 ECU graduate and school principal, and Jolia Bossette, a former fifth-grade student, joined Dr. Matt Militello and Lynda Tredway, ECU faculty, in co-authoring a chapter in a recently published book, Improvement Science: Promoting Equity in Schools. This collaboration began as a part of Dr. Machado’s dissertation in educational leadership.
The book’s synopsis reads:
Improvement Science: Promoting Equity in Schools is intended for classroom teachers, school leaders, and district leaders charged with leading improvement efforts in schools. From questions such as “how do I develop a love of reading in my classroom?” to “how can I better manage student behavior during independent learning time?” to “what should we do to make sure kids of all races read at grade level by 3rd grade” to “how could we include families of all backgrounds as partners in learning” or “how do we increase our graduation rate among underserved students,” this book shares real-life examples from those who are currently leading equity-focused improvement in our classrooms and schools. If you are curious about how Improvement Science has been used, or how others have succeeded―or failed―at equity-focused improvement efforts in our classrooms and in our schools, or if you’re wondering how to spur discussions in school districts, universities, and communities about leading equity-focused improvement, this book is for you. Teachers, students, family members, community members, principals and superintendents will be inspired to embrace Improvement Science as a method to improve equity in their schools.
Dr. Angela Novak
Dr. Angela Novak, assistant professor in the Department of Elementary and Middle Grades Education, published a chapter in the book, “Creating Equitable Services for the Gifted: Protocols for Identification, Implementation, and Evaluation.” Her chapter was called “Not White Saviors, but Critical Scholars: The Need for Gifted Critical Race Theory.”
The abstract reads:
Gifted Black and Brown students are not voiceless; their voices are suffocated under the knee of systemic racism and white supremacy. This chapter proposes that the field of gifted education advocates for needed structural and systemic change through the discourse of critical race theory. A model of gifted critical race studies (GTCrit) is presented and described as both a way to understand race and racism in gifted education and to drive social change. GTCrit theorizes about the ways in which race, racism, ability, potentiality, and deficit ideology are built into daily interactions and discourses, informal and formal policies and procedures, and systems and structures of education, which disproportionately impact students of color qualitatively differently than white students.
Dr. Novak also published an article in the Roeper Review with her colleague Dr. Katie Lewis from York College of Pennsylvania. The article is titled “A Methodological Approach to Designing a Theory: The Journey of the Four Zone Professional Learning Model.”
The abstract reads:
The four zone professional learning model is a practical, comprehensive approach to striving toward equity through professional learning within gifted education programs. Grounded in equity literacy and funds of knowledge frameworks and based in best practices in culturally responsive gifted professional learning, the zones address the knowledge and skills necessary for proficient teachers of the gifted through the process of systemic change. The model was designed and developed over several years utilizing the plan-study-do-act action research model. This article discusses the methodological evolution of the model, the research and theoretical frameworks in which it is grounded, and future implications.