CIU 20 Welcomes Dr. Edie Holcomb to Present during the School Improvement Leadership Series (12/10/2010)

On December 10, 2010, national expert and author Dr. Edie Holcomb presented a workshop as day two of a four day school improvement series for school district administrators. Her presentation entitled “Students are Stakeholders, too!” explored multiple dimensions of student engagement at the elementary, middle and high school levels.


Ken Newman (left), K-12 Math Supervisor, Pleasant Valley School District and Joana Spinelli (right), Training & Consulting Staff, CIU 20 work together with the team from Pleasant Valley School District on a group activity.

In the workshop, participants considered levels of student involvement and identified roles for students as stakeholders in the school improvement process by analyzing student engagement in learning and in leadership and school decision making. In this workshop, participants were also charged with identifying next steps in student engagement.


Dr. Maura Roberts (right), Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum & Instruction , Easton Area School District, jots down her teams ideas during the workshop.

Dr. Edie Holcomb holds a BS in elementary education, an MS in gifted education, and an EdS in educational administration. She received her PhD in educational administration from the University of Minnesota. Dr. Holcomb’s classroom experience includes teaching at all grade levels with heterogeneous classes, inclusion of students with multiple disabilities, and coordination of services for gifted and talented students. Her building-level administrative experience was acquired in settings ranging from affluent suburban to school-wide Title I with racial/ethnic diversity and English Language Learners. At the university level, Holcomb served as Associate Director of the National Center for Effective Schools, developing School-Based Instructional Leadership, a training program for site-based teams. As Associate Professor of Educational Administration at Wichita State University in Kansas, she coordinated the principalship course and internships, and taught applied inquiry in the field-based doctoral program.

Jeff Walters (left), Principal at Stroudsburg Intermediate/Elementary School, Stroudsburg Area School District, and Linda Kresge, Counselor, Stroudsburg Area School District ponder the question posed to the group by presenter Dr. Holcomb.

Dr. Holcomb’s presentation is day two of a four day professional development series entitled “Back to the Future: School Improvement Leadership Series” designed to support building and central office leaders in continuous school improvement. Activities featured throughout the series are designed to be taken back to buildings and replicated with their teachers and committees. 


Dr. Edie Holcomb leades the group in discussion on December 10th.