The Educator-as-Researcher Award is presented annually to an educator who works with PK-12 students and has conducted a self-initiated classroom research project or applied research findings to inform their own practice.
The awardee for 2024 was Dr. Jessica Coronel, a recent graduate of the Doctor of Education in Instructional Leadership program at Western Connecticut State University, Danbury, CT. Jessica has been a teacher of Spanish and has a certification in counseling. She has worked with high school students in the Danbury, CT area to prepare them for entering college. Through her professional interactions and personal experience, she knows for certain that there are not enough teachers of color in our schools. She decided to get to the root of the problem and designed her dissertation research to investigate how to recruit and retain undergrads of color in teacher education programs.
Through her research, Perceptions of Students of Color Enrolled in a Pre-Service Teacher Education Program, she explored the college experiences of students of color at a public university in the Northeast. This study followed an exploratory qualitative case study design. Data were collected during the Spring 2023 semester. The sample included 20 full-time undergraduate education students who self-identified as Asian American, Black/African American, or Hispanic/Latino. Her data collection tools included a demographic questionnaire and an extensive open-ended interview protocol. A thematic analysis approach was used to analyze the data. Five themes emerged from the data: Characteristics of Educators of Color, Education Career Motivators, Education Program Pros, Career Deterrents for an Education Major, and Recommendations to Recruit and Retain Pre-service Teachers of Color. The following suggestions can aid university leaders and faculty to provide effective educational experiences for their pre-service teachers of color.
Begin recruitment as early as middle school, certainly by high school.
Provide examples of how teachers of color can make a difference in the lives of students of color.
Encourage professional collaborations between faculty and cohort members.
Market a teacher education program to families, not just students.
Provide multiple resources for academic support, financial aid, and social and emotional learning (SEL) support.
A main implication of this research was that pre-service teachers of color are looking forward to their future role and have valuable suggestions for enriching the teaching profession. Dr. Coronel’s dissertation is located at https://westcollections.wcsu.edu/items/7af4787d-b5b2-45f0-a9f1-cf8fd327e224. She is currently the Assistant Dean of the School of Graduate, International, and Career Studies, Western Connecticut State University, coronelj@wcsu.edu.
The Educator-as-Researcher Award is presented annually to an educator who works with PK-12 students and has conducted a self-initiated classroom research project or applied research findings to inform their own practice.