Please join Ellie Drago-Severson, Jessica Blum-DeStefano, and Deborah Brooks Lawrence for a discussion of their new book, Growing for Justice: A Developmental Continuum of Leadership Capacities and Practices (Corwin, April 2023) which "explores how leaders committed to social justice support the growth of others while also developing their own capacities to engage, connect, and lead for change. This groundbreaking book, informed by adult developmental theory and based on a first-of-its-kind study, helps school leaders assess their own strengths and areas for growth―and then take concrete steps toward improvement."

Ellie Drago-Severson is Professor of Education Leadership and Adult Learning and Leadership at Teachers College, Columbia University.  A developmental psychologist, Ellie teaches, conducts research, and serves as a consultant to school and district leaders, systems leaders, and teacher leaders in public, charter and private schools and systems―on professional and personal growth and learning; leadership that supports principal, teacher, school, and leadership development; and coaching and mentoring in K–12 schools, university settings, and other adult education contexts domestically and internationally.  She is also an internationally certified developmental coach who works with leaders to build internal capacity, lead on behalf of social justice, and grow systemwide capacity.  At Teachers College, Ellie is director of the PhD Program in Educational Leadership, teaches aspiring and practicing principals in the Summer Principals Academy, aspiring superintendents in the Urban Educators Leaders Program, leaders from a variety of different sectors in the Accelerated Educational Guided Inquiry Studies (AEGIS) Program, and also coaches leaders in the Cahn Fellows Program for Distinguished Leaders and in her private coaching practice to help leaders grow their practice and themselves. She also serves as faculty director and co-facilitator of the Leadership Institute for School Change at Teachers College. Ellie is author of the best-selling books Helping Teachers Learn (Corwin, 2004) and Leading Adult Learning (Corwin/The National Staff Development Council, 2009)―as well as Becoming Adult Learners (Teachers College Press, 2004) and Helping Educators Grow (Harvard Education Press, 2012).  She is also a co-author of Learning for Leadership (Corwin, 2013), Learning Designs (Learning Forward & Corwin, 2014), Tell Me So I Can Hear You (Harvard Education Press, 2016), and Leading Change Together (ASCD, 2018).

Jessica Blum-DeStefano is an instructor and advisor at Bank Street College of Education, where she teaches adult development and qualitative research methods. Her teaching, scholarship, and approach to leadership foreground the power of growth and interconnection―especially as they relate to individual perspective transformation, authentic collaboration, and capacity building systemwide. Toward these ends, her work is inspired by an interdisciplinary tapestry of ideas―including adult developmental theories, social justice frameworks, the history and philosophy of education, organizational studies, student voice, and qualitative/mixed-methods research―as well as the nine rewarding years she spent as a teacher and school administrator in K-12 alternative education settings. Jessica earned her PhD in Education Leadership from Teachers College, Columbia University, and  holds additional degrees from Emory University (BA), Hofstra University (MA), and Teachers College (M.Phil.) Jessica is a coauthor of Learning for Leadership (Corwin, 2013), Learning Designs (Learning Forward & Corwin, 2014), Tell Me So I Can Hear You (Harvard Education Press, 2016), and Leading Change Together (ASCD, 2018).

Deborah Brooks Lawrence, Ed.D, is a native New Yorker, who believes that equitable access to viable resources will pave the road for universal recognition and sustainability of Human Rights; and as educators we without question need to prepare all of our practitioners and students to embrace the possibilities of equitable opportunity. This is couched in her witness to, and participation in, the Civil Rights and Women’s Movements as well as her first-hand witness to Apartheid and Nyerere’s Pan Africanism.  It is through this inclusive lens that she weaves theory, research, advocacy and practice in her current role as a City Research Scientist with the City of New York.  Alongside her current role, Deborah was a Teaching Fellow in Educational Leadership and Development for the Summer Principal′s Academy (SPA) at Columbia University, she co-taught a Dissertation Research course, at Teacher’s College Columbia University, and designed and teaches a  course on the historical and philosophical foundations of education at Bank Street College of Education. Prior to this work, Deborah taught  Logic and Rhetoric for Antioch College’s NY Extension, taught in a charter elementary school and was the founding director of the only supplemental educational program to mandate parents’ attendance to learn and discover alongside their children. Deborah’s scope of work includes work as the interim Director with ReServe (Organization for retired individuals), Education Director of in-school, out of school, and after-school programs throughout NYC for a large non-profit, work on tolerance with the United Nations Association of the United States of America (UNA-USA), and pivotal work with immigrant populations, disenfranchised adults, marginalized children and families, education and child welfare practitioners. She is the co-author of Inherited Wisdom: Drawing on the Lessons of Formerly Enslaved Ancestors to Lift up Black Youth (Cognella, 2022).

This event is co-sponsored by the Office of the Vice President for Diversity and Community Affairs.

Register HERE.

Where: Online