Front row (left to right): Leigh Ann Newton, Amy Sutton, Debra Ware, LaShonda Ivory, Kristen Fondren, and Lindsay Brett. Back row (left to right): Steven Hurdle, Steven Havens, Jason Arledge, Chadrick Spence and Jimmy Weeks. Not pictured: Jacob Gentry and John Michael Tacker. Photo by Thomas Graning/Ole Miss Communications
OXFORD, Miss. – Thirteen Mississippi education leaders make up the second cohort of the University of Mississippi’s Hybrid Doctor of Education program in K-12 leadership.
The group, which hails from north and central Mississippi, gathered at the UM School of Education in August for an orientation with UM administrators, faculty and other doctoral students.
“The No. 1 thing that we need to do in Mississippi is to make sure that every teacher has a great leader,” said David Rock, UM education dean. “This program is designed so that education leaders, who are going to stay in their field, can earn an advanced degree that is going to help them lead schools and districts to success.”
A three-year program, UM’s Hybrid Ed.D. combines both online and face-to-face coursework and is designed to enhance the professional practice of school- and district-level administrators, including superintendents, assistant superintendents, principals, assistant principals and district-level professionals.
The group includes: Jason Arledge, assistant principal of Shannon Middle School; Lindsey Brett, assistant principal of Plantersville Middle School; Kristen Fondren, assistant principal of Aberdeen Elementary School; Jacob Gentry, assistant principal of West Point High School; Steven Havens, principal of Guntown Middle School; Steven Hurdle, principal of Oxford Intermediate School; Lashonda Ivory, assistant principal of Leflore County Elementary School; Leigh Newton, chief academic officer of the Lee County School District; Chadrick Spense, assistant superintendent of the South Panola School District; Eric Sumrall, assistant principal of Durant Elementary School; Amy Sutton, assistant principal of Batesville Middle School; Johnmichael Tacker, assistant principal of Okolona High School; Debra Ware, principal of Clarksdale Middle School and Jimmy Weeks, superintendent of the Lee County School District.
“I function best in a collaborative environment,” said Arledge, who is one of three assistant principals at Shannon Middle School and is in his 16th year in education. “The cohort experience creates a perfect environment for collaboration, and I look forward to creating new friendships and bonds with my classmates through this experience.”
At the end of their program, each Ed.D. candidate will complete and defend a “dissertation in practice,” which is a research project that allows students to evaluate a real-world problem in his or her school district. Each student will design a plan to address a select problem, implement the plan, evaluate their work and present their findings.
“What attracted me most was how the dissertation in practice caters to working administrators,” said Fondren, a two-time Ole Miss graduate who is in her seventh year in education. “I will be able to work on a doctorate while also working on solving a problem in my own district. That’s what’s really attractive about this opportunity.”
Throughout the next three years, the students will complete online coursework in addition to meeting face-to-face for weekend classes every three weeks. The class location will rotate from the Oxford campus to other locations around the state to make the program more accessible to working educators.
UM established its model for a Hybrid Ed.D. in 2014. The Ed.D. program in K-12 leadership is one of three offered at UM, with the others focusing on higher education and secondary mathematics education.
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