Doctoral Student Mario Jackson Selected for David L. Clark National Graduate Student Research Seminar in Educational Administration & Policy

Mario Jackson, a doctoral student in the NC State College of Education’s Ph.D in Educational Leadership, Policy, and Human Development Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis concentration, has been selected to participate in the David L. Clark National Graduate Student Research Seminar in Educational Administration & Policy.

Sponsored by the University Council for Educational Administration, Divisions A and L of the American Educational Research Association and SAGE Publications, the David L. Clark National Graduate Student Research Seminar brings together emerging educational administration and policy scholars and noted researchers for presentations, discussions and professional growth. 

“It is an immense honor to have been recognized as one of 38 doctoral students across the U.S. to participate in this seminar. Furthermore, being selected also means the faculty evaluators and the selection committee saw value and significance in my dissertation research, which is encouraging,” Jackson said. “The feedback from my mentors, Ira Bogotch and Virginia Snodgrass Rangel, and student peers will no doubt challenge my thinking around dissertation research and will provide a space to network with other emerging scholars from across the country.”

Jackson’s dissertation uses a three-paper essay approach to examine principal preparation programs and their equity-oriented efforts. 

The first paper, which is already completed, provides an integrative review of principal preparation practices for equity over the past 12 years. The second study will attempt to situate the North Carolina Principal Fellows preparation program’s equity efforts within this body of research. The third study will compare the outcomes of Master of School Administration graduates across North Carolina based on the principal preparation programs they attended. 
“Before enrolling in my current doctoral program, I was always interested in equity and social justice. However, working as a research and teaching assistant at NC State’s Educational Leadership Academies (NELA), I started learning about the impact principals’ pre-service training has on their ability to enact effective leadership practices,” Jackson said. “This experience has since inspired my interest in the intersection of principal preparation and equity.”

This post was originally published in College of Education News.