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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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October/November 2021
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
- Current student and alumni awards
- Program announcements
- New Books
- UIC Faculty
- Resources
- Superintendent Endorsement Information
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Leadership is Essential: The Significance of Coaching
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From the admission of Cohort 1 in 2003 to today, a distinctive signature of the UIC Ed.D. Program in Urban Education Leadership has been its commitment to leadership coaching. For many UIC candidates, their relationship with their coach was the single most influential experience in their leadership journey. Like every other aspect of the UIC program, the coaching model has evolved over the past two decades. Its original architect was Peter Martinez, co-founder of the UIC program, who believed that in-school mentoring of principal residents, even from exemplary principals, would not provide what was needed. In an article that he later co-authored with two scholars in the field (Shoho, Barnett, & Martinez, 2012), Martinez articulated several of the founding insights of coaching in the UIC program. These included:
· The research and practice literature in leadership coaching for principals was in its infancy, and UIC would have to break new ground in both theory and practice.
· Coaching and mentoring are not the same: each is different from the other and makes its own distinctive contributions to the aspiring leader’s development.
· Principal mentoring during the residency is not by itself sufficient for several reasons: 1) principals are already overextended by their responsibilities and cannot provide all the necessary support and feedback (a point that was made to UIC by principals themselves during initial program design); 2) leadership coaching needs to take place over several years, not just the one year of residency; 3) leadership coaching is a complicated skill-set that people don’t have just because they are good principals—leadership coaches need to be committed to the growth of their own expertise through a community of professional practice.
· Coaches should demonstrate a record of having significantly improved schools; our selection of coaches should never confuse experience with expertise.
· Both coachability and relationships are critical to the aspiring and novice principal’s success: coachees who cannot engage fully in the coaching relationship are not likely to grow or to succeed in the UIC program.
All of these founding ideas have remained intact, although the literature on leadership coaching for principals has grown since the program’s founding. Important contributions were made by Bloom (Blended Coaching, 2005), the Center for Creative Leadership (The Handbook of Coaching, 2006), and Elena Aguilar (e.g.,The Art of Coaching (2013), among others. A theoretical breakthrough was captured in a book-length treatment on developing expertise through “deliberate practice” by Anders Ericsson, who pointed out that 10,000 hours of practice won’t get you anywhere unless you have the right feedback loops to support learning from that practice (Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise, 2016). As Ericsson was quoted in a Harvard Business Review article in 2007, “Consistently and overwhelmingly, the evidence showed that experts are always made, not born.” A key concept in the UIC coaching model is the providing of frank, sometimes painful, feedback to developing leaders. The UIC coaches’ role is to help accelerate leadership learning, and all of these volumes have had an impact on the UIC model over time. Since Martinez's retirement in 2016, Dr. Cynthia Barron has led the continuous improvement of leadership coaching at UIC.
Most recently, UIC’s Shelby Cosner led a team of UIC researchers (Walker, Swanson, & Hebert) in documenting research in leadership coaching for principals, adding new empirical research using UIC coaches and coachees as data sources (forthcoming in Education Administration Quarterly). By studying the practices of UIC’s five full-time coaches and the experiences of UIC coachees, Cosner and her research team identified 11 different practices that comprise leadership coaching in the UIC program. Providing feedback is just one of them. Others include helping coachees learn through making their practice public, and therefore open to examination; engaging in inquiry approaches; engaging in critical reflection; learning by observing others, and more. One of the central practices of UIC coaches is to help residents learn more effectively through their work experiences, given the inevitable variability among those experiences and settings. For example, coaches help make sure that candidates are getting high-leverage leadership tasks, often “brokering” or helping facilitate the relationship between the mentor and resident. In the in-service coaching role, coaches also help make sure that novice principals and assistant principals are engaged in the kinds of high-leverage practices that will help form the foundation of strong capstone studies of leadership practice with impact.
As Cosner’s research demonstrates, leadership coaching at UIC is complex and multi-layered. UIC coaches remain at the front edge of a field that has a long way to go. Most of the nation’s leadership preparation programs still do not have full-year internships, and most do not have full time leadership coaches. UIC has been able to provide field leadership through the support of philanthropic foundations over the years, and through the increasing University support of leadership coaching. When the UIC program began, the program had one clinical faculty member and one part-time coach. Today, the University funds 3 full-time clinical faculty, while 2.5 leadership coaches are externally-funded, thanks to the continuing commitment of the Stone, Polk, and Crown Foundations. All provide leadership coaching and academic advising, and most teach or co-teach leadership courses. These leadership coaches, and the Cosner team’s research on their practice, are making a critical contribution to advancing the theory and practice of coaching for school leaders.
Today, after a competitive search, we are pleased to announce the addition of two new leadership coaches to the UIC Ed.D. team.
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Congratulations to Kenya Mandeldove Sadler
UIC Coach
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Kenya Mandeldove Sadler grew up in Chicago and is a product of the Chicago Public Schools. She received a Bachelor's degree in Elementary Education and a Master's of Arts in Reading Education from Roosevelt University. She earned a second Master's of Arts in Educational Leadership from Concordia University and is currently completing her dissertation in the doctoral program at National Louis University in Teaching and Learning.
Her professional experience includes work as a classroom teacher both in elementary and middle school in Chicago. She served as a Reading Specialist and District Literacy Coordinator in Chicago as well. She has presented research at national and local conferences, including the International Reading Association, ASCD, Illinois Reading Council, Chicago Area Alliance Black School Educators, the Council for Great City Schools, and the Illinois Statewide NCLB Conference. Kenya was the writer of the Chicago Public Schools Striving Readers Grant in 2006, which awarded twenty-five million dollars to Chicago Public Schools for creating instructional models to support struggling readers. She served as an Assistant Principal at King Lab Magnet School in Evanston, then transitioned to a principal position at CPS' William H. Brown School of Technology for eight years. She then became Deputy Chief of Transformation in Youngstown, Ohio. She worked to transform teaching and learning in five elementary schools. In 2020, Kenya accepted a remote position at NWEA to allow herself the opportunity to relocate back to her home in Chicago.
As a former urban student and an urban leader, she is deeply committed to transforming teaching and learning in urban schools. Kenya is excited to contribute to the vital work at UIC of preparing principals to transform teaching and learning in urban schools.
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Congratulations to Stephen McClain
UIC Coach
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Dr. Stephen McClain (Cohort 10) has devoted his entire career to improving educational outcomes for students and families in underserved communities. Most recently, Stephen served as Chief of Schools at a Chicago charter school network, supporting fourteen campuses and leading innovation, community engagement, and policy teams. Previously, Stephen was a Principal and Assistant Principal in Chicago Public Schools, elevating each school to Level 1 or Level 1+ with impressive student academic growth and substantial improvement in attainment. Dr. McClain started his career teaching middle grades reading in the KIPP Chicago network. Stephen earned a B.A in Elementary Education from Michigan State University, Ed.M in Teaching and Curriculum from Harvard Graduate School of Education, and an Ed.D in Urban School Leadership from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Dr. McClain embraces this full circle moment and is deeply committed to supporting leaders in the UELP from pre-residency to graduation.
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Highlighting Our Coaches
Coaching in the UIC Ed.D Program
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Dr. Lionel Allen, Jr. is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Educational Policy Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), where he teaches a signature pedagogy course on cycles of inquiry, co-leads the full-year residency course for aspiring school leaders, and the second of two courses that are part of the instructional leadership sequence. Lionel has over twenty years of experience as a teacher, assistant principal, principal, and chief academic officer. He is an education reform consultant, principal coach, and a frequently invited speaker.
Dr. Cynthia K. Barron is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Educational Policy Studies Department at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). She is coordinator of the EdD in Urban Education Leadership program where she leads the continuous improvement of the EdD program and co-leads the full year residency course for aspiring school leaders. She also coordinates the Superintendent Endorsement Program as well as teaches the "System Leadership in Urban Schools" course required for the endorsement. Cynthia spent 35 years with the Chicago Public Schools as a teacher, athletic coach, counselor, award-winning principal (elementary and high school), Area Instruction Officer, and Interim Chief Area Officer for High Schools. Cynthia's expertise is in developing principal leadership and principal supervisor development.
Beverly LaCoste is a leadership coach with UIC’s EdD program and an award-winning former CPS high school and elementary school principal. She is an experienced school administrator with over 40 years as a teacher, counselor, assistant principal, principal, and district level leader. She has served as consultant in multiple school communities: Chicago Public Schools, Indianapolis Public Schools, Cleveland, Ohio ACCES Charter and Clayton County Public Schools. Her out of state experience also includes Special Assistant to the Deputy Superintendent, Atlanta Public Schools, Atlanta, GA, and Chief of Staff to the Superintendent of St. Louis Public Schools.
Dr. Joseph Shoffner, during his 13 years in school leadership, earned a reputation as a principal who could develop and sustain an academic culture of continuous improvement. His leadership journey began as an assistant principal at Talman Elementary and also as a principal Intern at The Chicago Agricultural High School. However, Dr. Shoffner gained much of his leadership experience at McClellan, a school he served as principal for 9 years. When Shoffner took the principalship at McClellan, a neighborhood school, the school was given the lowest performance designation from CPS in the prior year. Within a few years, Shoffner and his colleagues helped move McClellan to the highest possible rating. Under Shoffner’s leadership, McClellan maintained the highest possible status over the last four years. He received his EdD from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
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Congratulations to Dr. Frank Gettridge!
President and CEO, National Public Education Support Fund
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Congratulations to Dr. Frank London Gettridge, Cohort 6, on his new position as President & CEO, National Public Education Support Fund, in Washington, DC. UIC leaders often follow in the footsteps of their coaches and remain in the principalship for well over a decade or more, and in fact 87% of all UIC residency completers since 2003 remain in school or district leader positions today. But sometimes UIC principals take their knowledge and skills down a more non-traditional path and to other organizations.
Frank Gettridge, who has been in the UIC family since his admission in 2009, is such a leader. Frank served his residency at Carter Elementary, was assistant principal at Lindblom Math and Science Academy, and then brought his extensive pre-UIC experience as an early childhood educator to Clara Barton Elementary School, where he served as principal for three years. At that point, in the middle of his doctoral work, Frank joined Kellogg Foundation as a program officer funding a wide range of education improvement efforts in Chicago and elsewhere. While at Kellogg, he finished his doctorate at USC in Global Executive Education, reflecting his career turn. After six years at Kellogg, Frank became Executive Director of the National Public Education Support Fund, where he was recently promoted to president and CEO.
What makes NPESF so unique is that it is a national and global organization, convening philanthropic foundations from around the country, creating a professional community of philanthropic leaders, policymakers, local communities, educators, and students who learn from and collaborate with one another on how best to improve public education. As Frank says, NPESF is an organization driven by values of equity through a vision of unity seeking to address issues of equity, justice, and systemic racism. The resultant networks of funders influence research, policy, and practice, including collaboration with the U.S. Department of Education as they support states and districts seeking to implement provisions of the American Rescue Plan and Reconciliation Act effectively—as CPS and Illinois are trying to do today.
If principals are the key levers of change in each and every school, they need people in positions of influence like Frank to support their work. Congratulations on your new position, Frank, and on the impact you are sure to have!
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Dr. Cosner travels to Qatar to Work with Qatar Ministry of Education and School Leadership Teams
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Throughout 2021, Dr. Shelby Cosner has been working with The Qatar Ministry of Education and the Qatar Foundation to design and provide an in-depth leader development program for principals and their school leadership teams in Qatar. This development program focuses attention on the learning-oriented leadership practices emphasized in the OECD’s Leadership for 21st Century Learning, Qatar Principal Standards 1-4, and academic/instructional leadership more generally. The program also focuses on developing leadership-oriented mindsets and practices. The implementation phase of the program kicked-off in January 2021. Despite the challenges and disruptions presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, Cosner, in collaboration with the Qatar Foundation and The Qatar Ministry of Education, innovated a unique virtual program for a group of largely Arab-speaking school leadership teams. During the spring and summer, Cosner used a digital synchronous learning environment that combined cross-school leadership team learning with individual leadership team coaching. Throughout the experience school leadership teams have been engaged in action-based leadership projects. Cosner traveled to Doha, Qatar in early November for the first in person learning experience. She will be returning to Doha in December to present this leadership learning design at the World Innovation Summit in Education, which brings together roughly 1500 policy leaders/experts, researchers, and developers from nations throughout the world to foster new collaborations and develop educational solutions with the goal of inspiring creative changes in education.
Dr. Shelby Cosner, Professor and Director of the Center for Urban Education Leadership
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Congratulations to Principal Byrne and Dr. Menoni!
CPS Distinguished Learners
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Congratulations to Margaret Byrne (Cohort 13) and Dr. Jackie Menoni (Cohort 11) on being selected as change makers. Byrne has been principal of Northwest Middle School for six years. Her commitment to and development of SEL made her stand out as a change maker in CPS. Menoni, who has been principal of Diego Elementary Community Academy for seven years, feels that her secret to success is family. Further, Diego Elementary has continued to push their personalized learning initiative, strengthening their IB program, and rolling out a solid tier one SEL plan for all.
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Congratulations to Dr. Regina Roberts!
AUSL Martin J. Koldyke Award
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Dr. Regina M. Roberts (Cohort 11) was recently selected to receive AUSL’s Martin J. Koldyke Educator Leadership Award. The Principal of Sherman School of Excellence was one of 20 AUSL Alumni from a total of more than 1,200 graduates from the Chicago Teacher Residency chosen to receive this award during the network’s 20th year anniversary celebration on November 3. The award recognizes and honors CTR graduates for their outstanding leadership and significant contributions to achieve equity in public education. Currently in her fifth year as principal, Dr. Roberts became Sherman’s first contract principal since the school was turned around in 2006. She was awarded “The School of Excellence Award” from the AUSL Network in her first year as principal, propelled the school from a level 2+ to a Level 1 during her second year, and has earned “Well-Organized” on the 5Essentials Survey since her tenure. In addition to receiving the ELEVATE: Whole School Redesign Grant, Sherman was recognized by the Office of Social and Emotional Learning as an “Established Supportive School,” for fostering a supportive environment committed to social and emotional learning (SEL). As a member of the LLIFT P-3 Network Improvement Community (2018-2020), Dr. Roberts helped to inform the analyses and concepts in the published report: Towards the Continuous Improvement of Chicago Public Schools’ High-Churn Elementary School. The report was intended to inform research, policy, and practices in school systems as well as in the principal preparation programs. In her more than 17-year career with CPS, Dr. Roberts has led district wide initiatives, served as a principal eligibility evaluator and currently is a principal mentor. The title of Dr. Roberts’ capstone was Fostering Trust and Solidarity through Collaborative Teams and Distributed Leadership.
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Congratulations to the Wilson Scholarship Recipients!
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Congratulations to LaVerne Coke Wright (Cohort 11), Amber Morgan (Cohort 16) and Amanda Brode-Rico (Cohort 16). Each student will receive $1,000 towards their education. David A. Wilson was a long-time College of Education Associate Dean who embodied conscientious administrative leadership. His family founded the David A. Wilson Education Leadership Fund to recognize the College of Education’s commitment to education leadership.
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Congratulations to Lake Forest High School!
Blue Ribbon School Award; Chala Holland, Former Principal
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On September 21, 2021, United States Secretary of Education Dr. Miguel Cardona recognized Lake Forest Community High School with a 2021 Blue Ribbon Award. The Blue Ribbon School Award is a national award given by the U.S. Department of Education to schools that foster cultures of excellence and create welcoming climates where students can master content that is both challenging and engaging. Receiving this incredibly competitive award recognizes Lake Forest Community High School’s commitment to quality teaching. Dr. Chala Holland (Cohort 7) was the previous principal of Lake Forest Community High School and is the current Assistant Superintendent for Administrative Services, Naperville, District 203. During her time at Lake Forest, Dr. Holland focused on developing strong school communities and systems of education.
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Aspire Fellowship Welcomes Second Cohort
Program to identify and develop a pipeline of diverse teacher leaders to enter principal certification programs
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The inaugural cohort of The Aspire Fellowship, a collaboration between the UIC Ed.D Program in Urban Education Leadership and Teach for America Greater Chicago-Northwest Indiana, came to a close in June and we are already seeing our fellows emerge as innovative and equity-minded leaders. Our students need transformative leaders that reflect the diversity of our local communities and who understand educational inequity from firsthand experience. With this in mind, we have reached our goal in expanding this fellowship with cohort 2, and have matriculated a cohort of 15 fellows in which over 90% identify as educators of color.
We are pleased to share that 5 of the 9 fellows from Aspire Cohort 1 were recently accepted to UIC’s EdD program in Urban Education Leadership. These fellows are:
● Ana Garcia Baker- Piccolo School of Excellence
● Diamond Bogard- Westinghouse College Prep
● Latonia Reynolds- Piccolo School of Excellence
● Mario Ford- Great Lakes Academy Charter School
● Violeta Cerna-Prado- UIC College Prep, Noble Network
Additionally from cohort 1, Jonathan Burton is currently a resident principal at Palmer Elementary School and is receiving his administrative endorsement with New Leaders. Andre Zarate is currently pursuing his EdD in Educational Leadership with the University of Pennsylvania. Two other fellows are taking the year to explore programs as they make their leap into school leadership and are continuing to lead teacher teams at their schools. Our goal when we started Aspire was that 80% of fellows would be admitted to principal certification program by 2023, and we are well on our way to reaching that goal!
The Aspire Fellowship was established out of a mutual desire between UIC and TFA to understand and address the barriers a teacher leader might face when deciding to enter a principal certification program. We are continuing this effort with Cohort 2 which launched on September 14th, growing from 9 fellows to 15. Again under the guidance of Dr. Lionel Allen, we’re starting off by building a strong cohort community, exploring racial identity and leadership, and establishing impact initiatives for the school year. Check out the slide deck from the Kickoff here. Fellows are also beginning to meet with their coaches to develop a learning plan for the year. We are very thankful to for the diverse perspectives, identities, and experiences among the leadership coaches joining Aspire. Those coaches are: Dr. Heidy Moran, Dr. Jasmine Juarez, Dr. Joe Shoffner, Lillian Lazu, Dr. Lynda Williams, Dr. Shanele Andrews, and Dr. Stephen McClain.
Please join us in celebrating the new Aspire Fellows!
If you’d like to learn more about The Aspire Fellowship or know a potential candidate, please complete the interest form here.
-Dr. Cynthia Barron, Clinical Assistant Professor Of Educational Policy Studies at UIC, Program Coordinator for the EdD in Urban Education Leadership Program
-Josh Hoen, Co-Interim Executive Director at Teach for America Greater Chicago Northwest Indiana
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Dr. Irby's entry in the Harvard Blog
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Last month we highlighted Dr. Irby's new book "Stuck Improving". Please read his entry in the Harvard Blog - as we think of the work of leadership we must think of bringing Joy back into our schools.
You can find Dr. Irby's piece "Counting Joy in School-Based Racial Equity Work" here.
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Dr. Victor Simon III Featured on Podcast
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Dr. Victor Simon (UIC Ed.D Cohort 3) Superintendent, Gower School District 62 (Willowbrook, IL) was recently featured on the SchoolCeo podcast, which releases weekly interviews with the country's most innovative superintendents. The title of Dr. Simon's capstone was "Leadership and Change: A Case of Punctuated Equilibrium and a Planned Approach for Continuous Improvement."
Listen to the episode here.
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ISBE and One Goal Partnership
Leadership Series webinar
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The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) and OneGoal have launched a new partnership to bring OneGoal’s postsecondary success support to districts and high schools across the state. OneGoal's Postsecondary Leadership Series is a set of new services aimed to support districts in building the capacity of staff and leadership teams to improve the delivery of postsecondary services through their campuses. Join us in this webinar to learn more about these services.
The webinar is open to all and is highly encouraged for any IL educator hoping to take part in the ISBE/OneGoal partnership.
Save Your Spot here
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Upcoming EdD Information Sessions
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The strength of our program lies in its diversity, and if we are going to achieve our goals, we must strive to ensure our leadership reflects the diversity of the students we serve. 1 in every 10 CPS schools is led by a UIC principal, and 1 in 7 CPS schools is led by a UIC principal or assistant principal. School leaders’ race and ethnicity influences student outcomes (Grissom, 2021). Of all current UIC principals, APs, and system-level leaders, 94 (54%) are leaders of color--and among current UIC principals, 50 of 79 (63%) are leaders of color.
The EdD in Urban Education Leadership is a nationally-recognized program designed to prepare and develop principals who are able to lead and significantly improve teaching and learning in urban schools. We seek applicants who are outstanding teachers and assistant principals who want to transition to school leadership positions, as well as principals desiring to take their schools to the next level.
We are ready to begin our search for the next Ed.D. Urban Education Leadership cohort. In efforts to recruit candidates with potential in becoming strong leaders, we look to you for assistance. Please contact Dr. Sharon Spears @ slspears@uic.edu and copy Dr. Barron @ckbarron@uic.edu with information on “leaders to watch” and those you believe would be a good fit for our program. Please also share with potential candidates details on our upcoming 21-22 information sessions
Our deadline for applying to the EdD Program in Urban Education Leadership will be July 15, 2022. Information session dates and the registration link is below. Interested candidates are encouraged to register for an information session and/or reach out to Dr. Cynthia Barron at ckbarron@uic.edu for an individual one-on-one.
2021-2022 Information Sessions:
December 11, 2021; 9:00-10:30 a.m.
January 22, 2022; 9:00-10:30 a.m.
February 15, 2022; 3:30-4:30 p.m.
March 12, 2022; 9:00-10:30 a.m.
April 2, 2022; 9:00-10:30 a.m.
May 3, 2022; 3:30-4:30 p.m.
May 28, 2022; 9:00-10:30 a.m.
June 18, 2022; 9:00-10:30 a.m.
Here is the the link for participant registration
For general program inquiries you may contact Dr. Cynthia Barron (ckbarron@uic.edu). If you have any questions about the application process, please contact Elise Wilson (elise@uic.edu).
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We are now accepting applications for the newly revamped superintendent program. If you are interested in learning whether the new UIC Superintendent program is the right match for you, we encourage you to fill out an interest form. At the end of the interest form, you will see a prompt to submit your resume to Superintendent Program Coordinator, Dr. Cynthia Barron (ckbarron@uic.edu). Shortly after your submission, she will contact you to set up a phone call to learn more about your background. For any questions about the program, do not hesitate to reach out to Dr. Barron.
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