Lutrill and Pearl Payne School of Education Faculty, Sulentic Dowell, Presents at the 2023 Southern Education Foundation Issues Forum
February 2, 2024
BATON ROUGE, LA - Margaret-Mary Sulentic Dowell, PhD, ended the final weeks of the fall 2023 semester focusing on disseminating writing research. Sulentic Dowell’s research proposal was selected as part of the 2023 Southern Education Foundation’s Issues Forum whose theme was Miles to go: Fulfilling the Promise of Racial Equity in Education. At the Southern Education Foundation Issues Forum, Sulentic Dowell’s session was titled “Investigating Writing Leadership in an All-Charter District: Examining the Promise of Innovation, Reform, and Choice.”
The presentation focused on the ways that principals and school chiefs in New Orleans, the only decentralized school system in the nation, promote and support writing instruction and teachers’ writing pedagogical capacity within an all-charter environment. The presentation resulted from an investigation Sulentic Dowell co-conducted in the spring of 2023 in collaboration with School of Education Educational Leadership Program colleagues, Henderson Lewis, Jr., PhD and Carlos Lee, EdD. The trio of educational leaders collaborated to publish their research, “An Examination of Literacy Writing Leadership in an All Charter District: The Impact of Privileged Reading Instruction, Mandated Prescriptive Curriculum, and Legislative Mandates,” in a 2023 volume titled, Instructional Leadership Efforts and Evidence-based Practices to Improve Writing Instruction.
Just three research panels were included in the program, an indication of the selectiveness of the proposal process as well as the caliber of presentations. For example, Louisiana’s Commissioner of Higher Education, Louisiana Board of Regents, Kim Hunter Reed, PhD., was a plenary session panelist. Individuals from the Brookings Institute, the University of Missouri, the US Department of Education, Harvard, Learning Policy Institute, University of Alabama, the University of Arkansas, s well as individuals from across southern states rounded out the program.
Sulentic Dowell is the Cecil “Pete” Taylor Endowed Professor of Literacy Leadership and Urban Education and coordinates the PhD program in Educational Leadership, the Certificate in Instructional Coaching, and is Director of the LSU Writing Project; Lewis oversees the Educational Leadership PhD core coursework, and Lee organizes and directs the Masters and Educational Specialist Program in Educational Leadership.
The Southern Education Foundation was founded in 1867 as the Peabody Education Fund when philanthropist, George Peabody, donated $1 million the first public education system in the South. Peabody motivated other philanthropists to also contribute to efforts to support and train educators in the South to work with Black students and students living in poverty.
About Lutrill & Pearl Payne LSU School of Education (SOE)
A school of the College of Human Sciences & Education, the SOE offers undergraduate programs for students who want to pursue a career as a pre-kindergarten through 12th grade teacher or acquire dual certification in both traditional elementary and special education classrooms. Besides providing graduate certification in Instructional Coaching, educational technology, and urban & community education, the SOE offers a writing pedagogy minor, and a master’s degree in arts, arts in teaching, education (MEd), education in counseling (MEd), certificate of education specialist (EdS) and PhD. The School’s mission is to prepare educational professionals to be leaders, practitioners, and scholars knowledgeable in contemporary educational issues. Visit the LSU Lutrill and Pearl Payne School of Education.
About LSU College of Human Sciences & Education (CHSE)
The College of Human Sciences & Education (CHSE) is a nationally accredited division of Louisiana State University. The college is comprised of the School of Education, the School of Kinesiology, the School of Leadership & Human Resource Development, the School of Library & Information Science, the School of Social Work, and the University Laboratory School. These combined schools offer 8 undergraduate degree programs, 18 graduate programs, and 7 online graduate degree and/or certificate programs, enrolling more than 1,900 undergraduate and 1,120 graduate students. The College is committed to achieving the highest standards in teaching, research, and service and is committed to improving quality of life across the lifespan. Visit the College of Human Sciences & Education.
Latest College of Education News
- Louisiana A+ Schools Now Accepting Applications for the Fall 2025/2026 School YearLAA+ at LSU enables schools to integrate arts education into their curriculum. Learn more about this innovative arts education program and the 2025/2026 application.
- School of Education Faculty Host the Mandela Washington Fellows in New OrleansLSU was selected as an Institute Partner for the 2024 Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders. The Fellows engaged with Louisianians to establish meaningful professional networks in the state. During their recent trip to New Orleans, Margaret-Mary Sulentic Dowell, PhD, a professor at the School of Education, hosted them at her home for a fish fry
- LSU Writing Project Participates in Place-Based Writing RetreatThe LSU Writing Project held its first place-based Invitational Summer Institute on Mallard Island in the Rainy Lake Watershed, north of International Falls, Minnesota. Margaret-Mary Sulentic Dowell, PhD, director of the LSU Writing Project, received a grant from the Ernest Oberholtzer Foundation to host the week-long writing institute.
- Ellis Puts Scholarship First- $1.2M NSF Grant to Recruit and Prepare Future STEM TeachersAt the center of the Lutrill & Pearl Payne School of Education is the desire to prepare LSU students to educate the young minds of Louisiana to ensure their future successes.Joshua Ellis, PhD, Associate Professor of Science/STEM Education in the Lutrill & Pearl Payne School of Education, is a member of an LSU faculty team that has been awarded a $1,187,387 grant from the National Science Foundation for the preparation of future STEM teachers.
- School of Education Professor Presents Research at Inaugural Joint National Council Teacher of English-National Council Teachers of Mathematics ConferenceLutrill & Pearl Payne School of Education Professor, Margaret-Mary Sulentic Dowell, PhD, recently presented cutting-edge research on writing assessment at the Inaugural Joint National Council Teacher of English (NCTE)-National Council Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) Conference held in New Orleans in late June, 2024. Both professional organizations collaborated to provide the opportunity for members from both associations to come together and share research and recommend practices in both disciplines, a first for these two premier professional entities.
- Louisiana A+ Schools at LSU and Arkansas A+ Schools Receive Grant from National Park Service to fund: Bridging the Blues! Connecting Music Heritage in Arkansas and Louisiana through A+.Louisiana A+ Schools (LAA+) at Louisiana State University (LSU), a program of the College of Human Sciences and Education, in partnership with Arkansas A+ Schools (ARA+) at University of Arkansas, a program of the College of Education and Health Professions, are proud to announce they have received a grant from the National Park Service (NPS). This grant is part of the Lower Mississippi Delta Initiative (LMDI), aimed at supporting cultural heritage and educational projects in the Delta region.
