EDUP Xcelerated Excellence

Our guest, Dr. Christopher (Chris) A. Koch, is President of the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP). The council is comprised of more than 550 member institutions. This episode is part one in a two-part series on Leading Equity and Effectiveness in Education Preparation through Accreditation.

Dr. Koch discusses how CAEP and its standards for accreditation are resources for educational equity, addressing the unique needs of individual Educator Preparation Programs (EPPs) and their states. He explains that the cooperation of diverse volunteers by expertise and institutional type are critical stakeholders for educational effectiveness.

Chris shares perspectives on the changing landscape of education accreditation and provides examples of CAEP’s leadership for innovation in the profession, such as achieving state agreements for certification reciprocity for graduates of CAEP accredited EPPs.

Your Hosts:

Dr. Jacob Easley II, PMP

Dr. Laurie Shanderson

Resources:

The American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE)

EDUP Accreditation Insights

Branch Alliance for Educator Diversity

The Edup Experience

Xcelerated Excellence Consulting

EDUP Xcelerated Excellence

Guest, Dr. Lynn M. Gangone, is President and CEO of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE). Dr. Gangone recounts her legacy at AACTE and the association’s leadership in and impact on educator preparation. She shares insights into her association leadership and the inner workings of principled, yet apolitical leadership.

She discusses the significance of AACTE’s motto to #Educate, #Advocate, and #Innovate, reflecting on engagement with members, policy makers, and partners.

Lynn journals the importance of equity in education with a focus on both educator preparation in higher education and educator development in the Pre-12 school context.

Dr. Gangone encourages those seeking to enter the profession to align their values and to learn from failing.

Your Host: Jacob Easley II, PhD, PMP

Contributing EDUP Xcelerated Excellence community members:

⁠Dr. Cheryl Holcomb-McCoy⁠, Distinguished Professor and Dean, ⁠American University School of Education⁠

Dr. Jesse Perez Mendez, Provost and Executive Vice President, Kansas State University

Resources:

Journal of Teacher Education

AACTE, the Profession, and the Future

American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE)

Teachers Speak, Is Anyone Listening? - with Dr. Lynn M. Gangone, President & CEO, American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE)—An EDUP Experience Podcast

AACTE Holmes Program

New York Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (NYACTE)

American Council on Education (ACE)

EDUP Xcelerated Excellence

Our guests Drs. Kimberly A. White-Smith and Sean Green are Professor and Dean and Assistant Dean for Innovation and Community Engagement, respectively for the University of San Diego’s (USD) School of Leadership and Education Sciences (SOLES).

This on-location episode takes place on campus where Dr. White-Smith shares a brief history of the university’s founding and recognizes its 75th Anniversary. Drs. White-Smith and Green share their personal equity experiences, those occurring at the USD and across Californian communities.

The Black InGenious Initiative (BiGI) is a signature program that supports Black children of San Diego County, their families and schools. A $1.5 million grant from the San Diego Foundation (SDF) Black Community Investment Fund helped to launch the Black InGenius Initiative (BiGI). Designed for students in grades 6-12, BiGI has broad institutional support promising to meet the financial needs of completers who continue their post-secondary study with the USD.

Your Host:

Jacob Easley II, PhD. PMP

Resources:

Black InGenius Initiative (BiGi)

American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE)

EDUP Xcelerated Excellence (podcast)

The EdUP Experience (podcast)

Sponsors:

The 2.0 Conferences

Receive a 10% discount for 2025 registration in Las Vegas, Nevada courtesy of EDUP Xcelerated Excellence with the code EDUP10OFF.

A consultancy dedicated to offering support to education leaders and their organizations to meet their full potential for excellence.   

Dr. Margaret Terry Orr is Professor at Fordham University and EdD program director and Chair of the Division of Educational Leadership, Administration, and Policy within the Graduate School of Education.

She explains that improvement science applies an inquiry approach focusing on both the problem and the solution. A key component requires the engagement and perspectives of stakeholders involved in the problem and its solutions.

Dr. Orr outlines how the Plan-Do-Study-Act framework is used to support the development of doctoral students pursuing careers in educational leadership. She shares how improvement science is applied as a program tool that aims to help the Fordham’s doctoral program, its faculty, and doctoral students to help partners schools to excel toward their desired effectiveness.

Dr. Orr explores connections to project management, design thinking, program evaluation, and action research for the implementation of improvement science in education.

Resources

Project Management and Continuous Improvement

Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate

IDEO Design Thinking

The EDUP Experience

Your Host: Jacob Easley II, PhD, PMP

Sponor: The 2.0 Conferences

Our Guest, Eden Strachan (Straw-n), is Executive Director of Black Girls Will Get Love, Inc. and Founder of Black Girls Don’t Get Love, LLC. She is also an award-winning journalist and filmmaker and author of the book Black Girls Don’t Get Love.

Eden’s work focuses on advancing girls’, girls of color, and Black girls in particular, learning and self-image through the use media. Her work centers the genre of the coming of age story.

Her organization offers a film training program, a slumber party, and other activities open to the public as well as the “Black Girls Don’t Get Love” screen writing workshops is available to school districts.

Eden shares her story of how media can be a tool for social change and the impact on filmmaking in the lives of girls.

Sponsor:

Eastern Connecticut State University

2.0 Conferences

Resources:

The EDUP Experience

Black Girls Don’t Get Love (Book)

EDUP Xcelerated Excellence

The Host:

Jacob Easley II, PhD., PMP

Our guest, Dr. Tyrone Howard, is the Pritzker Family Endowed Chair in the School of Education and Information Studies at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He is also the immediate past-president of the American Educational Research Association.

Dr. Howard, profiles the significance of parent and caregiver engagement in educational equity and belonging, as outlined in his new book Equity Now: Justice, Repair, and Belonging in Schools. He stresses the significance of mindsets when addressing the needs of students, particularly those of cultures, conditions, and values different from those espoused by schools and individual educators.

Dr. Howard suggests the need for a radical redesign of teacher education for greater equity and provides advise for those who advocate for educational equity.

The Host:

Jacob Easley II, PhD, PMP

EDUP Xcelerated Excellence Community Contributors:

Dr. Ruth Best, Alliant International University

Dr. Gaetane Jean-Marie, Rowan University

Resources: Equity Now: Justice, Repair, and Belonging in Schools (published by Corwin Press).

The EDUP Experience

The Sponsors:

The 2.0 Conference

Eastern Connecticut State University

Our Guests are Drs. Miriam Feldblum, Co-founder and Executive Director, and Felecia Russell, Director of the Higher Ed Immigration Portal, both of the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration.

Their episode is scheduled in recognition of Immigrant Heritage Month. They clarify the different designations and pathways among immigrant populations and share that immigrants account for nearly 32% of US higher education enrollment, excluding international students.

Undocumented students reflect a particular community. Felicia explains that undocumented students comprise approximately 480,000 college enrollees and that their composition, like that of the larger immigrant population, is vastly diverse in race, culture, language, and needs.

Miriam outlines the priorities of the Presidents’ Alliance at the federal and state levels and highlights recent legislative updates.

Felecia profiles her new book Amplifying Black Undocumented Student Voices in Higher Education published by Routledge.

The Host: Jacob Easley II, PhD, PMP

Sponsor(s): The 2.0 Conferences.

Experts from the fields of education, health, internet, marketing and CXO are welcome to take part in the 2025 2.0 conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. Reserve your space today and receive a 10% discount courtesy of EDUP Xcelerated Excellence with the code EDUP10OFF.

Resources: Amplifying Black Undocumented Student Voices in Higher Education (Book). Available now on Amazon, Routledge, and other book outlets. Use discount code: ABV24 for 25% off.

EDUP Legal

The EDUP Experience

EDUP Xcelerated Excellence Community Contributor(s): Kimberely Lee

Our guest, Dr. Julian Vasquez Heilig, is Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs at Western Michigan University (WMU). He is an internationally known scholar and a nationally recognized advocate for educational effectiveness and equity.

Provost Vasquez Heilig explains the “Western Way” of WMU as undergirded by innovation. Innovation has been proven necessary to meet the strategic goals so that “all may learn.” Outcomes include improved retention and closing equity gaps such as graduation rates. As an institution focused on access, he shares efforts on the recruitment of historically underrepresented student populations, including Native American communities, as an emerging Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI).

Responding to the 2024 Inside Higher Ed Survey of College and University Chief Academic Officers finding that there has been an increase in faculty and staff turnover, Dr. Vasquez Heilig expresses WMU’s commitment to hire and retain faculty with a history of supporting students from historically marginalized communities.

The Host: Jacob Easley II, PhD, PMP

The Sponsor: Xcelerated Excellence Consulting

EDUP Xcelerated Excellence Community Contributors:

Resources:

Opportunities:

Our guest, Rodney Toulson, returns to the Xcelerated Excellence podcast. He is the founder of Restorative Consulting Service LLC. And in this episode, he outlines how restorative practice is operationalized through his consultancies and how the practice can aid in school renewal and excellence.

Rodney explains how his study and engagement with the International Institute for Restorative Practices, of which he is a graduate, set the stage for a career in restorative practice. He articulates the importance of collective responsibility of teams and their individuals members for effective restorative practice.

Rodney contends that at its core, restorative practice is about relationships and mindset. It is through the right relationships and mindsets that educational equity is made possible. He concludes with an invitation to join Restorative Consulting Services’ 4-week book study to learn more.

Host: Jacob Easley II, PhD, PMP

Resources:

EDUP Xcelerated Excellence’s Episode Inspirational Shorts with Rodney Toulson—Restorative Counseling

International Institute for Restorative Practice

The EDUP Experience

Our Guest, ⁠Dr. Ramon Goings⁠, is the founder of ⁠Done Dissertation⁠, a consulting firm aimed at helping more than 1000 students successfully complete their dissertations in one year or less.

Dr. Goings shares how his experiences as a doctoral student and the disruption of the COVID pandemic influenced the development and direction of the resources provided by Done Dissertation.

Working with doctoral students and universities across discipline areas, Done Dissertation offers collaborative and personalized services to support clients. The organization has created safe spaces for doctoral candidates to problem solve through their challenges for completing their dissertations. Equally, the services provided supplement the support provided through the traditional faculty committee structure.

Dr. Goings is also the author of ⁠14 Secrets to a Done Dissertation: A Guide to Navigating the Dissertation Process and Finishing in Record Time.⁠

Sponsor: This episode is sponsored by ⁠Xcelerated Excellence Consulting⁠, which provides customized, value-added consultancies to educational leaders and their organizations to meet their full potential for excellence through strategic planning and problem solving, continuous improvement expertise, and professional development.

Your Host: ⁠Jacob Easley II, PhD,PMP⁠

Resources:

Inside Higher Education: ⁠I’m Chairing My First Dissertation. What Do I Do?⁠

⁠The EDUP Experience⁠

⁠EDUP PCO⁠

#dissertation

#doctoralcompletion

#donedissertation

#HBCUalmuni