2010 Doctoral Marshal: Megin Charner-Laird, Ed.M.'02, Ed.D.'10

Occasionally, Megin Charner-Laird, Ed.M.'02, Ed.D.'10, wakes up at night and wonders if there's anything she still needs to do for school.

Having completed her dissertation in March after seven years of work, she admits it is difficult to accept that it's all over. "In a way I still can't wrap my head around it," she says.

As lead marshal at commencement this week, Charner-Laird admits that she's incredibly stunned, honored, and humbled by the opportunity. "The fact that I was chosen and able to represent peers - I'm so proud to do that," she says, noting that she has constantly felt supported as a student and learner at HGSE. "As someone who wanted to explore different facets of education from different angles -- I feel I've grown immensely here and gotten so much out of the experience, which is invaluable. It feels good, and writing the dissertation allowed me to produce this concrete, substantial amount of work and bring together what I've been doing."

As a former teacher with a deep passion for education, Charner-Laird knew she wanted to study early-career teachers in urban settings. Specifically, her dissertation explored the professional learning experience of second-stage teachers (working for four to 10 years) in three urban school districts. She studied 85 teachers by looking at the types of professional learning they experienced, as well as what they deemed most valuable for professional growth and how it shaped their careers.

The findings showed that the majority of teachers work in schools without a clear cohesive vision for teacher growth. "They are floundering to find opportunities that matched what they needed at this point in their career," she says. "Most teachers really wanted more opportunities to work with colleagues and investigate their own practice."

Charner-Laird thoroughly enjoyed having the opportunity to work collaboratively with people on her dissertation, especially Professor Susan Moore Johnson, who acted as adviser. "The fact that I was able to do qualitative research and talk to teachers about their experience day-to-day was invaluable," she says.

Her dissertation continues to guide her work as director of the Harvard Undergraduate Teacher Education Program and as a lecturer. Charner-Laird says she always wanted to work in higher education and that this position has been a terrific match. "I like being in on the ground level with passionate, talented, young people who want to enter education and make a difference," she says.