Marco A. Nava, Ed.D. is an educational leader dedicated to enhancing student learning and fostering collaborative environments. Dr. Nava has played integral roles in building partnerships, leveraging resources, and contributing to school improvement initiatives in Los Angeles. He currently oversees induction and credentialing programs for teachers and administrators in the LAUSD Human Resources Division. His leadership extends beyond local boundaries, having been selected as a Fulbright Principal Exchange participant and facilitating international leadership development seminars. His areas of expertise encompass school improvement, social-emotional learning, coaching, and leadership development. Dr. Nava is a proud alumnus of the University of Southern California.
Dr. Nava and colleagues have published “Building Coaching Capacity Within Aspiring School Leaders.” This piece focuses on an administrator preparation program in Southern California. It highlights the ability to coach others and provide meaningful feedback as an important leadership skill that shifts practice and positively affects student learning.
Nava, M., Estrada, D., Rodriguez, J., Kim, D., Chou, L. L., & Gamba, J. (2024). Building Coaching Capacity Within Aspiring School Leaders. In Pursuing Equity and Success for Marginalized Educational Leaders (pp. 1-16). IGI Global.
Dr. Nava and colleagues have published “Building Coaching Capacity Within Aspiring School Leaders.” This piece focuses on an administrator preparation program in Southern California. It highlights the ability to coach others and provide meaningful feedback as an important leadership skill that shifts practice and positively affects student learning.
Nava, M., Estrada, D., Rodriguez, J., Kim, D., Chou, L. L., & Gamba, J. (2024). Building Coaching Capacity Within Aspiring School Leaders. In Pursuing Equity and Success for Marginalized Educational Leaders (pp. 1-16). IGI Global.
Margaret Thornton (Twitter: @MaggieEThornton; Bluesky: @maggiethornton.bsky.social)
is an Assistant Professor at Rowan University. Margaret has conducted research at Princeton’s School of Public and International Affairs about school segregation in New York City. While completing her doctoral studies, she served as an assistant to the educational leadership preparation program at the University of Virginia and a graduate research assistant at the University Council for Educational Administration. Margaret’s research interests include equity-focused school leadership development, school leadership for detracking, and Critical Race Theory. She began her career in education in detracking programs in Central Virginia. She now lives in Philadelphia with her husband, son, and several rescue pets.
Dr. Thornton has published Classroom Detracking in the US: Examples for School Leadership.
This book offers a comprehensive examination of how school leaders can institute detracking in their school with research-based best practices. Since the 1980s, researchers and educators have called for detracking as an alternative to the common practice of separating students into classes by supposed achievement levels. In its most basic form, detracking places students in the same classroom regardless of perceived previous achievement. In this book, Thornton focuses on four high-quality detracking programs across the US to provide a roadmap of best practices for school leaders. Focusing on schools in diverse suburban and urban areas, this book will be beneficial to a wide variety of school leaders as well as school leadership researchers. With the effects of the pandemic still felt in schools and the heated debates at school boards across the country, leaders and researchers both need a path forward for equity-focused work. This book helps to provide way finders on that path while also speaking to the need to travel the path in the first place.
Dr. Brandon J. Cheeks (X/Twitter and Instagram: @bjcheeks1) is currently an elementary administrator for USD 305, student support advisor at Kansas Wesleyan University, and assistant pastor at St. John's MBC. He is a Jackson Scholar and has recently graduated with an Ed.D. from Kansas State University.
Diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB) is an effort having a positive impact on administration of PK-12 spaces and communities, creating a true sense of belonging to improve the educational system.
Diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB) is an effort having a positive impact on administration of PK-12 spaces and communities, creating a true sense of belonging to improve the educational system.