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Welcome to the newsletter of the UIC EdD program in Urban Education Leadership. If you have items to be considered for submission, please forward them to ckbarron@uic.edu
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June 2020
UIC LEADERS ON THE MOVE!
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In this issue...
In this issue you will read about a range of news, including:
- Current student and alumni appointments
- Program announcements
- News on UIC-affiliated schools
- Application deadline due: July 15th
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As COVID-19 continues to lay bare the systemic racial inequities in our country, the senseless murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor have traumatized a deeply wounded nation. In the aftermath of the civil unrest, as educational leaders, we urge you to consider that it is simply not enough to denounce these actions publicly. We must respond loudly and firmly with action. Action begins with naming the problem. If we do not name the crux of the problem, we cannot move to a shared understanding; without a shared understanding of the problem, we cannot begin to solve the problem collectively. The problem is the culture of white supremacy.
If one of our program's maxims is, "your system, or any system, is perfectly designed to get the results that you are getting," then we have to take ownership that for over 400 years, white people have designed a system to oppress people of color. Thus, creating a system that significantly advantages a group of people over another. As Ben & Jerry put it, "what happened to George Floyd [and Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor] are not the result of a bad apple; it was the predictable consequence of a racist and prejudiced system and culture that has treated Black bodies as the enemy from the beginning. What happened to George Floyd in Minneapolis is the fruit borne of toxic seeds planted on the shores of our country in Jamestown in 1619, when the first enslaved men and women arrived on this continent. Floyd is the latest in a long list of names that stretches back to that time and that shore. Some of those names we know — Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Oscar Grant, Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Emmett Till, Martin Luther King, Jr. — most we don't".
We fully endorse this message and encourage you to give thought to how these racist structures have evolved over the centuries into more covert forms of racism, because these insidious vestiges are still living in the very fabric of our school systems. As such, those systemically racist structures begin to explain why many students of color do not have access to the same educational opportunities as their white counterparts. Without equal access to opportunities, we can never begin to address the disparities in educational outcomes.
As we think about re-entry into our schools in a post-COVID era, there are no shortage of pressing and long term priorities that we must face leading in these uncertain times. Nonetheless, we encourage you in the strongest terms to work with your colleagues to name and then begin to inquire into how to dismantle the structures in your schools that perpetuate inequitable outcomes across racial lines. Ignoring or sidelining these outcomes, or trying to make the outcomes about social class or gender, is not just a "missed opportunity," it further strengthens the very system that is producing such outcomes. As Bonilla-Silva eloquently puts it in his book White Supremacy and Racism in the Post-Civil Rights Era, "the foundation of racism is not the ideas that individuals may have over others, but the social edifice erected over racial inequality. Eliminate social inequality and the practices that maintain it and racism and even the division of people into racial categories disappear" (Bonilla-Silva, 2001, p. 22).
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Morton School of Excellence
Begins to Bridge the "Digital Divide"
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The Morton School of Excellence is located in the Garfield Park neighborhood. Roughly 90% of families that attend Morton do not have wi-fi or a computer at home. As the reporter from BlockClub Chicago shares, Dr. Peggy Burnett-Wise (Cohort 6) and her team at Morton have distributed enough devices to ensure that almost every Morton student has their own equipment.
As Dr. Burnett-Wise noted, "It’s about equity. Access is a game changer. It’s really an opportunity gap...People talk a lot about an achievement gap… but when they get the opportunity they go for it.”
Burnett-Wise and her staff at the Morton School of Excellence also learned that the Chicago Public Schools have awarded their school significant funding to create a new gifted program.
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Dr. Ethan Netterstrom named Executive Director
of School Supports in ONS
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Dr. Ethan Netterstrom (Cohort 4) has returned to Chicago. He has accepted the position of Executive Director of School Supports in ONS. In his close to two decades working in education, nearly 15 years of his career have been in leadership roles. Dr. Netterstrom served as the principal of Skinner North, one of the highest performing elementary schools in CPS for eight years. In 2016, with UIC colleague Dr. Katie Magnuson (Cohort 10), Skinner North earned the prestigious National Blue Ribbon Schools designation. Most recently, Ethan served as the Executive Director of Curriculum and Instruction in the Madison Metropolitan School District.
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Dr. Kevin Gallick named Secondary Transformation Officer of the Providence Rhode Island District
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Kevin Gallick (Cohort 7) has been tapped to serve as the Secondary Transformation Officer of the Providence (RI) School District. Gallick has worked in education for over 17 years. Dr. Gallick entered the UIC EdD program as a respected AP US History teacher at Senn High School. Gallick began his leadership journey as a resident and then as an assistant principal under the mentorship of Dr. Ernesto Matias (Cohort 2) at Wells High School. For the past eight years, Gallick has served as the principal of George Washington High School. Under Gallick's leadership, Washington has improved from an ISBE Illinois Priority School designation (bottom 5%) to a designation of "Commendable School" and a US News & World Report Top 30% in Illinois ranking; advanced a college-going culture yielding substantial gains in 4-year graduation rates from 61% to 85%, college enrollment from 35% to 70%, while also boosting scholarships from $2.5 million to over $17 million.
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Dr. Gwyn Marr named Director of Curriculum and Innovation at Pendergast Elementary School District
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Dr. Gwyneth Marr (Kram) (Cohort 12, CLC #3) has been selected as the Director of Curriculum and Innovation at Pendergast Elementary School District in Phoenix, Arizona. She spent the last two years as a District Lead and Leadership Coach with Learning Sciences International. Marr is also a 14-year veteran of CPS serving as a teacher (K-12), Dean of Students, Assistant Principal (K-12), and most recently as Principal of McCutcheon Elementary School. While principal at McCutcheon, Marr significantly increased trust between stakeholders, created strong teacher teams to lead instructional improvement work, and formed dozens of community partnerships including a free legal clinic for families, a trio of mental health providers supporting students through free counseling sessions, and ongoing partnerships with local businesses that provided a stream of revenue for the school. Marr is passionate about equity and access for all students, as is shown through her commitment to securing resources and supports for both inside the classroom and out.
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Barbara San-Roman named Principal of
George Washington High School
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The Washington LSC unanimously named Barbara San-Roman (Cohort 15, CLC #6) as the next principal of George Washington High School. San-Roman has worked in education for eight years, beginning her journey in education as a classroom teacher at Benito Juarez Community High School. Within the last three years, San-Roman has served as both the Resident Principal and Assistant Principal of George Washington High School. San-Roman will be one of the few school leaders who will serve in all three positions at the same school. In her three years at Washington, San-Roman has been working closely with Dr. Gallick (Cohort 7) to make Washington more equitable. For example, San-Roman and her team have been making strides to reorganize school structures to provide greater access and achievement for males at Washington.
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Lindsi Lara Pérez named Principal of Hitch Elementary
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Lindsi Lara Pérez (Cohort 16, CLC #7) has been named the next Principal of Rufus M. Hitch Elementary School. With over a decade of experience in education and her third year as a school leader, she is returning to the school where she served as Resident Principal in 2018-2019. As Resident Principal, she collaborated with teacher teams to develop instructional practices that support inclusive, multilingual, and culturally responsive communities and partnered with families to develop meaningful learning opportunities that reflect the needs and values of the greater community. Her work led to Hitch receiving a significant grant through a partnership with the Gust Foundation and being one of 17 schools awarded a Wilson Pilot School grant from CPS. While serving as Assistant Principal of Portage Park Elementary during the 2019-20 school year, she led the ILT in developing a school-wide instructional vision and CIWP; established a teacher-led BHT and MTSS committee; and collaborated with teacher leaders and the Office of Social Emotional Learning to support the development of a culturally responsive approach to discipline for middle school students. Lindsi is currently also serving as a GEM Fellow with the CPS Office of Equity. Her work with GEMs is focused on developing culturally sustaining tools for school leaders. Lindsi looks forward to continuing on her leadership journey as the Principal of Hitch by modeling her passion for celebrating diversity, building relationships with students in order to see the whole child, and relentlessly advocating for equity in opportunity for every student.
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Dr. Anthony Rodriguez Renews Contract
as Principal of Carl Schurz High School
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Dr. Anthony Rodriguez (Cohort 7) has renewed his contract at Carl Schurz High School for another 4 years. Dr. Rodriguez is a veteran educator with nearly two decades of experience. He joined the team at Schurz as the assistant principal in 2010, a position he served for nearly 7 years. In 2017, Rodriguez was tapped by the LSC to serve as the principal. Dr. Rodriguez is proud of the 17% increase in college enrollment he oversaw over the past two years. This is accompanied by the 24% increase in students earning early college and career credentials over the past year.
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Dr. William Daniels named Assistant Principal at Lincoln Park High School
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Dr. William Daniels (Cohort 14) has been named the assistant principal at Lincoln Park High School. Daniels has worked in education since 2011. Dr. Daniels taught mathematics to grades 9 through 12 at Fenger High School for five years. Since then, he has taken on an Instructional Leadership position at Perspectives - Joslin Campus. Daniels has served as assistant principal at Tarkington School of Excellence Elementary School, Daniel Hale Williams Prep School of Medicine, and now Lincoln Park High School. While at Williams Prep, Daniels collaborated with Principal Dr. Jullanar Naselli (Cohort 12) to build a successful model of distributed leadership, improve classroom rigor, create teacher assessment cycles, and create a culture of culture of learning. Further, by implementing systems to more closely monitor underclassmen, Daniels and his team were able to raise Williams Prep Freshmen and Sophomore on-track metrics to their highest levels to date. He most recently collaborated with Williams faculty members to write a winning grant proposal for the Catalyzing Inclusive STEM Experiences All Year Round (CISTEM356) Program sponsored by the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana.
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Cynthia Watson named Assistant Principal of
Lincoln Park High School
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Cynthia Watson (Cohort 17, CLC #8) is joining Dr. William Daniels (Cohort 14) as an assistant principal at Lincoln Park High School. Both assistant principals will be leading with Principal Dr. Eric Steinmiller (Cohort 11). Watson has been in education for a decade, working primarily as an English and social studies teacher in charter school settings. Most recently, Watson was the resident principal at the Fuller School of Excellence, where she led school-wide MTSS implementation, home-school partnerships, and culturally relevant teaching implementation. In February 2020, Watson was named a Golden Apple Foundation Mentor, where she is responsible for developing the capacity of novice teachers.
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Ashley Hegwood named Assistant Principal of Ashburn Community Elementary
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Ashley Hegwood (Cohort 17, CLC #8) is the new Assistant Principal at Ashburn Community Elementary. Hegwood has been an educator for over 10 years. Hegwood began her career in education by teaching 3rd-grade at Clara Barton Elementary and the Dodge Renaissance Academy. In the fall of 2013, Hegwood transitioned to the Marquette School of Excellence as the MTSS Coordinator and later became an Instructional Coach. In the summer of 2017, Hegwood was named the assistant principal at Chicago Collegiate Charter School. During her time at Chicago Collegiate, Hegwood led literacy programming for the K-9 campus by forming a literacy team and developing a vision for reading and writing instruction; she also led data cycles around NWEA and ANet assessments and developed teacher capacity to analyze student outcomes to provide strategic instruction. This past school year, Hegwood was a resident principal at Ashburn Community Elementary and will now serve as its assistant principal.
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Jason Roberts named Assistant Principal of
Lake View High School
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Jason Roberts (Cohort 17) will be the next assistant principal at Lake View High School. He will be leading Lake View High School with Principal P.J. Karafiol (Cohort 12). Jason Roberts has been in education for over 15 years. For most of his career, Roberts worked at Kenwood Academy High School where he served as the science department chair, data strategist, ILT Co-Facilitator, and athletic coach. Last year, Roberts served as the assistant principal of O. A. Thorp Scholastic Academy. As the assistant principal of Thorp, Roberts led grade level team meetings to support school wide writing initiatives, introduced new methods of digital instruction, and the development of the CIWP.
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Alba Morales named Assistant Principal at Senn High School
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Alba Morales (Cohort 17, CLC #8) has been named the next assistant principal at Senn High School. Morales is entering her 9th year in education, and much of her career was spent at Benito Juarez Community Academy High School. At Juarez, Morales was an influential teacher leader that served as the World Language Department Chair, co-led the Instructional Leadership Team, and provided ongoing parent engagement workshops. Last year, Morales served as the resident principal of Thomas Kelly College Prep, where she initiated the Sophomore on Track Team, led the Grading for Equity Team, and built the capacity of the IST, the world language department, and the CIWP committees.
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Nicole Luke named Assistant Principal at North-Grand High School
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Nicole Luke (Cohort 17, CLC #8 ) will serve as an assistant principal at North-Grand High School. Luke will be entering her 9th year in education. Last year, as a resident principal of Lindblom Math and Science Academy, Luke led the development of the CIWP, facilitated ongoing professional development to infuse more elements of culturally responsive pedagogy in the classroom, and led the 11th grade teacher team in establishing protocols for support/interventions for SAT goals and SEL growth. Prior to her work as a resident principal, Luke was a social science teacher for 8 years at Kenwood, Perspectives Charter School, and the DuSable Leadership Academy of the Betty Shabazz Charter Network.
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Winnie Stevenson named Assistant Principal of Nancy B Jefferson High School
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Winnie Stevenson (Cohort 17) has accepted a position as assistant principal at Nancy B. Jefferson Alternative School. She will serve under UIC alum Principal Dr. Leonard Harris (Cohort 5). Stevenson is a veteran educator with 14 years of experience spanning K-12. During the last academic year, she served as the assistant principal at St. Malachy School. While at St. Malachy, Stevenson created an instructional leadership team and grade band teams to drive school improvement, built teacher capacity to become more comfortable leveraging school data, and defined structures and protocols to support a culture of continuous improvement.
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This month, the Urban Education Leadership Program will be welcoming back Ayana Wilson. Ayana is an undergraduate student at Vanderbilt University, and a political science major in the class of 2021. After serving in a similar role last year, Ayana will be working with the Ed.D program to help manage the admissions process, the newsletter, data entry, and file management.
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Curie High School featured in the Chicago Tribune
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On Tuesday, June 16th, Curie High School and Principal Dr. Allison Tingwall (Cohort 12) were featured in the Chicago Tribune. Assistant Principals Dr. Sussan Oladipo (Cohort 5), and Homero Peñuelas (Cohort 17), and teacher leader Elva Bahena (Cohort 18) are also current and former students of UIC leading Curie. In this article, the author begins to describe the complexities of leading virtual learning in light of the global pandemic and widespread civil unrest, particularly with a staff of 280 and a student body of over 2800. By focusing on the bonds between students and teachers, the staff at Curie has managed to maintain much higher levels of student engagement than the district average, even as COVID-19 and civil unrest continues to disproportionately affect families in under-resourced neighborhoods.
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Williams Prep featured in UChicago Magazine
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A new competitive academic team is becoming more popular in CPS - the ethics bowl. One such team at Daniel Hale Williams Preparatory School of Medicine, under the leadership of Dr. Jullanar Naselli (Cohort 12), participated in the fifth annual Chicago Regional High School Ethics Bowl competition. This event is new, and leverages verbal skills, knowledge and passion to argue your opinions on complex ethical questions. In the ethics bowl, teams can either refute or add to each other’s arguments. As the author Lucas McGranahan describes, "ethics bowl is not a debate. Teams do not start with a conclusion and work backward to justify it at all costs. They formulate a position in real time, refining their viewpoint by considering challenges from the opposing team and from a panel of judges. The opposing teams need not have opposing arguments; they can gain points by helping add nuance and depth to each other’s views."
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Congratulations to our UIC-Affiliated Schools!
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After evaluating applications, including interviews from school staff, letters of support from community stakeholders and letters of support from Local School Council, the Chicago Public Schools selected 22 schools to receive $18 million dollars to create new academic programs. The following UIC- affiliated schools have been selected among that elite group:
- Brentano Math & Science Academy (World Language - Spanish) | Principal Dr. Seth Lavin
- Kelvyn Park High School (Fine and Performing Arts) | Principal Dr. Keith Adams
- North Grand High School (Early College STEAM) | Assistant Principal Nicole Luke
- Sayre Language Academy (IB – Middle Years Program) | Principal Dr. Folasade Adekunle
- Tarkington School of Excellence (Dual Language) | Assistant Principal Jake Stefan
- Uplift Community High School (Early College STEAM) | Principal Dr. Tyrese Graham
- Morton School of Excellence (Gifted Program) | Principal Dr. Peggie Burnett-Wise
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Congratulations to Cohort 18!
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For the first time in our program's history, 100% (13/13) of those who applied to CLC residencies earned such positions. Congratulations to our incoming residents and their respective leadership coaches for their dedication and hard work.
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Thank You to Our Mentor Principals!
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Thank you to:
Raul Magdaleno at Thomas Kelly College Prepatory
Jewel Diaz at Ashburn Community Elementary School
Marilyn McCottrel at Melville W Fuller School
Efren Toledo at Ole A Thorp Scholastic Academy
Wayne Bevis at Lindblom Math and Science Academy
Patrick Dwyer at St. Malachy School
Dr. Allison Tingwall Curie Metro High School
Gerado Arriaga at Tonti Elementary School
Steven Rouse at Carver Military Academy
Dr. Karen Valentine at Edison Regional Gifted
Dr. Heather Pusatcioglu at Piccolo School of Excellence
Last August, UIC hosted a brief principal mentor orientation to help our partners better understand our program. We have great respect for our mentor principals and appreciate the crucial contribution they make to our program. Their unwavering support and guidance catalyzes our residents' leadership development. We sincerely thank you!
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Superintendent Program Update
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Due to the changes in Illinois state statues, virtually all educational leadership programs had to redesign elements of their superintendency program. Thanks to the hard work of Dr. Cynthia Barron, Dr. Martha Hebert, Sierra Ryah, and Dr. Aginah Muhammad, UIC's superintendent proposal has been approved by ISBE, and is now considered a new program. In fact, several committee members expressed appreciation that Dr. Barron submitted an extremely detailed and thorough program proposal. Candidates who are in the process of completing their Superintendent endorsement under the previous requirements have until June 2021 to do so. Application instructions for the new process will be forthcoming. If you have any questions about enrolling in the superintendency program, please contact Dr. Cynthia Barron (ckbarron@uic.edu).
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Re-Entering Early Childhood Programs in a Post-COVID Era
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The Urban Education Leadership Program Invites You to A Conversation:
What do leaders need to know to welcome in their youngest learners, post COVID-19?
July 1st, 2020
10:30a - 12:30pm
Supported by the W. Clement & Jessie V. Stone Foundation
On behalf of the Urban Education Leadership and Early Childhood Education programs, we cordially invite you to attend an online event we are hosting, “Re-Entering Early Childhood Programs in a Post-COVID Era”. The focal point of our discussion is exploring how school leaders of early childhood education (ECE) programs are preparing themselves and their schools to bring our youngest learners back to school.
Meet Bryan Stokes II, CPS Chief of Early Childhood Education, as he sets the tone for the day. Stokes has a wealth of experience in ECE. Most recently, he has served as the Preschool Expansion Policy Director in the Governor’s Office of Early Childhood Education, and the Vice President of Early Learning at Illinois Action for Children.
Our six panelists include current UIC-affiliated school leaders from the Chicago metropolitan area and others. This online session will be interactive; we will have numerous breakout groups to foster conversation between panelists and participants. Program Coordinators Cynthia Barron and Cathy Main will serve as co-hosts. If you, or someone you know, is interested in participating in this event, you may RSVP for the event HERE. A few days before the event, each RSVP will receive an invitation via Zoom with more specific login information. If you have any further questions, please email Dr. Barron (ckbarron@uic.edu) or Cathy Main (cmain@uic.edu)
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Thank you for Nominating Promising Teacher Leaders
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For the 2019-2020 academic school year, the Urban Education Leadership Program hosted 10 information sessions. Over those sessions, we made contact with 160 prospective principal candidates. On behalf of the program, we thank you for tapping promising teacher leaders who might be a strong fit for our program. Our next information session will be in a few months. In the meantime, if you would like to share our program materials, please feel free to do so.
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Applying to Cohort 19
(2020-2021 Academic School Year)
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If you, or someone you know, is interested in applying to the Urban Education Leadership EdD Program at the University of Illinois at Chicago, the preferred deadline for admittance into Cohort 19 (academic school year 2020-2021) is July 15th, 2020. The GRE requirement has been suspended for this admissions cycle.
For a complete checklist of admissions materials, please consult our website. The link to the application is here. Follow the instructions on our website on how to complete an application to our program.
For general program inquiries you may contact Dr. Cynthia Barron (ckbarron@uic.edu) or Dr. Jason Swanson (jaswansn@uic.edu). If you have any questions about the application process, please contact Elise Wilson (elise@uic.edu).
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