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Urban Scholars Program Graduates Return to the Field

Urban Scholars Group PhotoWhen Christina Grayson, Ed.M.’14, came to HGSE, she knew she wanted to concentrate on language and literacy, the focus of her master’s program. Her experience teaching elementary school students in New Orleans as a first-grade teacher and then working as a reading immersion specialist had shown Grayson the importance of literacy for young children.

Simon Rodberg, Ed.M.’14, taught English and served as department chair at a charter school, then became an assistant principal at a public middle school, both in Washington, D.C. As a student in HGSE’s Technology, Innovation, and Education Program, his coursework focused on the thoughtful design and implementation of projects that enhance education through technology.

Annie Foster Leavitt, Ed.M.’14, worked for several years in nonprofits, including Big Brothers Big Sisters. Since 2009, Leavitt has been the middle school academic coordinator at Boston’s Young Achiever’s Pilot K–8 School, where she directs an afterschool program for students in grades 6–8. In HGSE’s Prevention Science and Practice Program, Leavitt focused on youth development, counseling, and interventions designed to help students succeed.

Along with 11 other students, Grayson, Rodberg, and Leavitt were part of this year’s cohort of Urban Scholars. Founded in 2006, the program provides financial support for Ed.M. students with top academic records, who have at least three years of experience in urban education. Throughout the year, the students attend a series of discussions with HGSE faculty and other guests, touching on various issues in education.

“Being part of a group of thoughtful individuals from different pockets of the Ed School has been a unique and rich experience,” Grayson says. “Many of my Urban Scholars colleagues are people I wouldn't have necessarily encountered otherwise. We represent not only different programs, but different paths and perspectives, and we push each other intellectually and dig deep ethically.”

With the intense focus of the one year Ed.M. programs, students must begin thinking about how they will apply what they learn at HGSE to their careers after they’ve been on campus for only a few months. For the Urban Scholars, the monthly meetings and discussions provided a unique forum for weighing their options and supporting each other in their chosen career paths.

“It’s great to be part of this group of people from across programs,” Leavitt says. “We’re all invested in going back to urban schools. I believe public schools have the potential to be the catalyst for community reform. I’m so glad to have built a network of urban scholars – people I know will challenge me for the better as I leave here.”

Having graduated in May, the Urban Scholars have fanned out over the country to pursue their careers in urban education.

Leavitt plans to continue her work with teenagers in the Boston area, working on projects related to the achievement gap, social justice, and developing leadership skills in young people.

This fall, Grayson will begin working as an early literacy specialist at an inclusion early childhood public school in Dorchester. In this hybrid role, she will spend half the school day in a kindergarten classroom, and half the day doing reading interventions and literacy strategy work.

Rodberg will be the founding principal of a new charter school in Washington, D.C., the D.C. International School. In preparation for his new role, he spoke with many HGSE faculty members, including those who held discussions with the Urban Scholars cohort over the course of the year, for advice.

“I've been struck by these experts' generosity with their time and ideas, their care for students and teachers, and their encouragement,” Rodberg says, citing HGSE faculty members Deborah Jewell-Sherman, Tina Grotzer, Tom Hehir and others. “The Urban Scholars seminars have been among the most valuable and inspiring times I've had at HGSE, in large part because of the connections to faculty and to other students they've given me.”

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