May 2022 Educational Leadership graduates publish capstone projects in VASCD Journal

Katelyn Wilkerson, GC’22, and Charlotte Martin, GC’22, both graduates of the SPCS Educational Leadership & Policy Studies program, published their capstone projects in the 2022 VASCD Journal. 

Wilkerson earned a Graduate Certificate in Educational Leadership & Policy Studies in 2022. Her article, Closing the Literacy Gap: A Collaborative Data Based Approach for Supporting Third Grade Students in the 2022-23 School Year, analyzes the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on developing readers and proposes a plan to close the expanding literacy gap through a collaborative data based approach.

Martin earned a Master of Education in Educational Leadership & Policy Studies in 2022. Her article, Improving Student Reading Achievement through Structured Literacy and Data-Based Decision Making, provides a method for schools to implement a structured literacy approach to reading instruction that organizes instructional improvements into a manageable action plan.

Students in the graduate Educational Leadership and Policy Studies complete and present a capstone research project as part of their required course of study. ELPS program chair Dr. Kate Cassada said that “their capstone assignments were so strong that we suggested they publish them.” They submitted their projects to VASCD Journal, and the two publications were both accepted and published in the 2022 volume of the journal.