Teacher Education Department, Borough of Manhattan Community College, City University Of

Curriculum Vitae Meghan M. Fitzgerald, Ed.D. PO BOX 145 Glen Ridge, NJ Teacher Education Department, Borough of Manhattan m. 559.260.9805 Community College, City University of New York [email protected] 199 Chambers St., S601D, New York, NY 10007 [email protected] EDUCATION Doctor of Education in Early Childhood Policy, Department of Curriculum & Teaching Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY May, 2010 Dissertation Title: Head Start in a Changing Policy Context: How Teacher Input Improves Professional Development Advisor: Dr. Sharon Lynn Kagan and Second Committee Member: Dr. Thomas Hatch Master of Arts in Educational Administration and Supervision California State University, Fresno May, 2000 Thesis Title: Preschool Effects on English Language Learners: A Comparison at Calwa Elementary School Teacher Certification Program (Fifth Year) in Multiple Subjects; Emphasis: Early Childhood Education California State University, Fresno May, 1994 Bachelor of Science in Child Development California State University, Fresno 1992

EDUCATION EXPERIENCE Assistant Professor, Teacher Education Department Borough of Manhattan Community College, City University of New York New York, NY January, 2011—Present  Teach courses Introduction to Early Childhood Education, Early Childhood Education Curriculum Math, Sciences, and Social Studies class, and final Field Placement and Curriculum Supervision course to a largely urban, language-minority and socio-economically disadvantaged student population  Serve as the Teacher Education Department representative to the college Academic Senate  Serve as member of the college wide Budget Committee, and previously served as the Instruction Standing Committee, and Student Life Committees  Co-chair of the Department curriculum committee, responsible for renewing articulation agreements with CUNY senior colleges as well as curriculum changes during a transition of transfer system changes within the broader university  Collaborate and participate as a member of department activities, such as, course curriculum development and design, teacher education program assessment and evaluation, on-going faculty development, mentoring with student honors projects, grant writing, student scholarship program development  Served as the advisor, guide and chaperone for the Teacher Education Club, the Department’s Student Activities Organization for two years. Adjunct Lecturer City University of New York, Hunter College New York, NY January, 2011—February, 2011  Taught masters level field practicum course and supervised early childhood education students in the field Early Childhood Instructional Coordinator New York City Department of Education, Office of Early Childhood Education Field Offices of Queens and Bronx-Manhattan New York, NY August, 2007—January, 2011 M. Fitzgerald p. 2  Coordinated instructional and program administration related oversight of New York City contracted CBOs and Public Schools to support full implementation of New York State Education Department’s Universal Prekindergarten program according to education and child care policy independently and regularly  Provided independently on-going, on-site and off-site, professional development for community based organizations (CBO) and public school K-3 teachers in order to provide adult learning opportunities that are seamless supportive of literacy, language development, math and science pedagogy as well as assessment in urban settings  Conducted, monitored, analyzed and used child, classroom environment, and school or program evaluations to inform on- going professional development and technical assistance to support growth of age-appropriate, standards-based practice and assessment use in both CBOs and schools’ K-3 classrooms  Participated annually in the management in the local grant competition process as a team member reviewing and verifying grant proposal data as program funding was expanded  Built collaborative relationships with staff members from NYC Housing Authority and Administration for Children Services agency units for Child Care, Head Start, and Facilities in order to support on-going program and facility improvements and related oversight of CBOs to maintain full implementation of UPK services  Assignment Summary: Coordinated programs and oversight at 13-17 CBOs locations annually; worked independently within 41-45 classrooms; facilitated program assessment learning at 2 public schools, provided monthly professional development facilitation and co-authored several city-wide professional development sessions; Program assigned enrollment totaled more than 700 preschoolers while UPK contractual funding totaled as much as $1.2 million Adjunct Lecturer City University of New York, Queens College Flushing, NY September, 2007—December, 2007  Taught “Trends and Issues in Early Childhood Education” to advanced masters level course urban students towards completion of their graduate studies Education Supervisor Vernon Avenue Children’s School Brooklyn, NY May, 2006—August, 2007  Directed and designed all education and professional development program for 200 child program whose population was multi-lingual ranging from infant to school age to raise the quality of program services  Responsible for hiring teaching staff, support of education program through reflective supervision using video recorded observations, modeled and mentored in classrooms for 27 staff members  Designed and developed professional development, orientation, training, and formal education plan to exceed Head Start and New York City Child Care funding requirements  Authored application which was awarded a 2 year Family Literacy professional development training opportunity when only 2 out of 150 Federal Region 2 applications were granted this opportunity Instructor, Pre-service Program in Childhood Education, Curriculum & Teaching Department Teachers College, Columbia University New York, NY September, 2004—May, 2005  Managed seminar class operations, including agenda, discussions about readings, larger questions of pedagogy, school policy, student teaching and other education issues  Planned and facilitated class discussions and assignments  Reviewed and critiqued student lesson plans, portfolios, masters’ theses, and student-instructor dialogue journals to provide seamless learning between a variety of planned pre-service program activities  Guided, advised, and evaluated students’ work on collaborative curriculum design assignment to mentor teacher-level judgment in graduate students  Conducted midterm and final evaluation of student teacher experiences to provide formative feedback for students Course Assistant, Federal Policy Institute taught by Dr. Sharon Lynn Kagan Teachers College, Columbia University New York, NY October, 2002—March, 2003 M. Fitzgerald p. 3  Planned, taught and maintained operations for Federal Policy Institute, a Human Development and Curriculum and Teaching course designed to give graduate level students practical experience in context of policymaking in New York, NY and Washington, DC  Coordinated sessions, assignments and advised students’ particular policy interests in order to facilitate learning Course Assistant taught by Dr. Leslie R. Williams Teachers College, Columbia University New York, NY September, 2003—December, 2003  Planned, taught and assisted evaluation of students of Curriculum and Teaching Department course, “Evolution of Early Childhood Teaching Strategies in Social Context”  Conducted lessons, coordinated assignments and course sessions, and demonstrated early childhood practices in order to facilitate learning of graduate level students Teacher of Kindergarten/First Grade, Demonstration School Fresno Unified School District, Greenberg Elementary School Fresno, CA August, 2000—June, 2002  Collaborated in planning and opening of new Title I, demonstration school in order to become model full inclusion school for Fresno Unified School District  Demonstrated effective teaching practices to visiting teachers and administrators and led professional development meetings and collaborative team meetings for peer-staff  Integrated specific teaching strategies, preferred by America’s Choice Comprehensive Reform Program from National Center on Education and Economy, with developmentally appropriate practice  Managed full classroom covering two grade levels with multiple language and cognitive abilities  Developed own curricula aligned to language arts, math and specific English language development standards for each grade level in order to facilitate needs of all learners  Secured grant to fund family literacy libraries for four Kindergarten classrooms to enhance family-school connections supportive of literacy Kindergarten Teacher Fresno Unified School District, Calwa Elementary School Fresno, CA August, 1997—June, 2000  Developed standards based language arts curriculum, including assessment, to reflect cross-curricular needs and diverse learning needs of students which assisted identification of special needs referrals in a Title I program school  Managed and coordinated all state and district mandated testing/assessment components  Led successful appeal to the school board in order to alter school schedule from year-round to modified-traditional

RESEARCH & POLICY EXPERIENCE Head Start Research Scholar Dept. of Health & Human Services, Office of Planning, Research, Evaluation & Office of Head Start, Administration for Children and Families Washington, DC September, 2008—August, 2010 Supervisor: Sharon Lynn Kagan  Summary: Primary researcher for exploration of professional development opportunities provided by three medium- to high-quality Head Start programs. Experiences are described and corroborated by perceptions of 104 participants comprised of education directors, teachers and teacher assistants and programs’ documentation and professional development policies and procedures. Study incorporated methods of survey, documents, records, interview, and focus groups  Authored grant proposal in order to support research program that received $50,000 award  Collaborated with Head Start agency partner, Administration for Children Services of the City of New York, NY, to identify stratified participant sample of three delegate Head Start agencies  Designed, managed and coordinated grant and research project reports between Office of Planning, Research, Evaluation and the Office of Head Start, Department of Health and Human Services Graduate Student Research Grant Program, and National Center for Children and Families, at Teachers College, Columbia University to successfully complete Head Start Scholar program and all commitments of the grant M. Fitzgerald p. 4 Local Planning Council for Child Care and Development Appointee Fresno County Local Planning Council for Child Care and Development Fresno, CA October 1995— August 2002  Participated in annual needs assessment and development in strategic plan for child development in order to manage state and federal allocations to Fresno County  Brought childcare quality and staff compensation and retention experts to Fresno County to address county-wide trends about compensation and quality issues  Built collaborative relationships with agencies directives in order to initiate an interagency grant via the Education and Training Task Team  Participated in the Education and Training Task Team in order to secure $3,000,000 funding from new California cigarette tax proceeds Public Policy Committee Member California Association for the Education of Young Children Sacramento, CA September 1995— May 2001  Responsible for systematic child advocacy in a 5 county Central California regional areas to augment early childhood education programs and better communication between larger state initiatives  Proposed, researched and monitored legislation to coordinate county level early childhood systems  Produced county specific fact sheets for five counties to underscore ECE program needs to policy makers  Met with local and state offices of elected officials for five counties for ECE advocacy purposes  Alerted state committee and regional membership of local policy trends during implementation phase to augment a state advocacy coordinated effort Congressional Staff Assistant The Honorable Richard H. Lehman, United States Congress Washington, DC 1994—1995  Served as constituent liaison and scheduled tours and appointments for district visitors to enhance public relations  Supervised Legislative Interns & coordinated and managed Congressional Nominations to Service Academies and Art Caucus Competition to support coordinated constituent relationships for the Congressman

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE Early Childhood Services Consultant Jr. U., Early Learning Center Jamaica, NY July, 2008— Present  Provided ongoing technical assistance and strategy support for this developing program.  Counseled and incorporated program and finance development team members ideas to access both private and public funding sources to support the overall program goal to service a diverse socio-economic and learning-need child population  Primary grant proposal and program plan author for the multi-site program  Early Literacy Consultant Booz Allen Hamilton/ASE, Inc. New York, NY April, 2005—June, 2006  Provided expert guidance and direct technical assistance to 218 Head Start and Early Head Start grantees, ACF Region 2 Federal Office Staff, and State Head Start Collaboration Offices, serving over 101,000 young children  Carried out Office of Head Start Initiatives related to early learning to support instruction within Head Start programs  Built collaborative relationships in order to provide support services to grantees with non-compliance issues  Designed a Technical Assistance Team data-tracking system to maintain a digest of technical assistance provisions for regulation compliance as well as program quality  Commissioned and mobilized 6 out of 10 different “regional” learning networks to support local education supervisors in over 160 grantees to carry out the on-going requirements of Head Start regulations M. Fitzgerald p. 5 PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS California State Certifications Professional Multiple Subjects Teacher Certification, Emphasis Early Childhood Education (Issued 1994; 2006) Administrative Certification eligible (Issued, 2000) New York State Certifications Early Childhood Education (Birth-Grade 2) Professional Certificate (Effective 09/2007) Childhood Education (Grades 1-6) Professional Certificate (Effective 09/2007) Computer Skills User of (1) MS Office Professional Edition 2003 & 2007 (all programs, & Apple formats); (2) various operating systems; (3) SPSS & NVivo qualitative data analysis software; (4) some networking

AWARDS AND HONORS CUNY Stewart Travel Award recipient, 2012-2013 Marcia Fochler Graduate Award, California Association for the Education of Young Children 2004; 2000 Edith Story Education Award, Sierra Vista Association for the Education of Young Children 2000 Western Division First Place Award & National Top Three Placement Award, Phi Upsilon Omicron 1992 Student Achievement Award & Dean’s Medal Nominee, Dept. of Child, Family and Consumer Sciences 1992 Volunteer Service Recognition Award, Muscular Dystrophy Association, multiple years CCAEYC Student Scholarship Award 1999

GRANTS AND FELLOWSHIPS 1. Head Start Graduate Student Research Grant Program, Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation 90YR0024, Head Start in a Changing Policy Context: How Teacher Input Improves Professional Development $50,000, 2008-2010. S.L. Kagan, Principal Investigator 2. Professional Staff Congress-City University of New York Research Award Program, Research Foundation at City University of New York 65276-00 43, Leading Roles in Professional Learning: Three Education Coordinator Stories $3,500, 2012. M. M. Fitzgerald, Principal Investigator PUBLICATIONS SCHOLARLY WORK Fitzgerald, M. (2013, May 1st). Leading Roles in Professional Learning: Exploring the Work of Three Head Start Education Coordinators. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Education Research Association. Retrieved July 1, 2013 from the AERA Online Paper Repository. Fitzgerald, M., & Theilheimer, R. (2013). Moving toward Teamwork through professional development activities. Early Childhood Education Journal, 1, 103-113, doi: 10.1007/s10643-012-0515-z. Fitzgerald, M., M. (2010) Head Start in a changing policy context: How teacher input improves professional development (Doctoral Dissertation). Available from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database. (UMI No. 3424958) SCHOLARLY WORK Fitzgerald, M. (2010, June). Head Start in a changing policy context: How teacher input improves professional development. Research poster session presentation at Head Start’s Tenth National Research Conference, June 21-23, 2010, Washington, DC. Fitzgerald, M. (2009, November). Head Start in a changing policy context: How teacher input improves professional development. Research session presentation at the National Association for the Education of Young Children 2009 Annual Conference and Expo, November 18-21, 2009, Washington, DC. Fitzgerald, M. (2009, November). Head Start in a changing policy context: How teacher input improves professional development. Research session presentation at the 2009 Annual Head Start Graduate Student Research Grantee Meeting, November 10, 2009, Washington, DC. Fitzgerald, M. (2009, October). Adapting professional development policies with perceptions: Incorporating what teachers think. Session presentation at the New York City Association for the Education of Young Children Conference, October 24, 2009, New York, NY. Fitzgerald, M. (2008, December). Head Start in a changing policy context: How teacher input improves professional development. Research session presentation at the 2008 Annual Head Start Graduate Student Research Grantee Meeting, December 9-10, 2008, Washington, DC. Fitzgerald, M. (2007, June). Learning opportunities for Infant-toddler program staff: How research influenced our program’s professional development system. Session presentation at the eleventh annual Birth to Three Institute Annual Conference, June 25-28, 2007, Washington, DC. Fitzgerald, M. (2007, March). Teaching adults across policies and programs: An education supervisor works research into practice. Session presentation at the California Association for the Education of Young Children’s 2007 Annual Conference, March 8-10, 2007, San Jose, CA. M. Fitzgerald p. 6 Schoonmaker, F., Cummings, P., Fitzgerald, M., Mehta, H. Molnar, M., Roepke, T., & Washington, T. (2005, April). “God doesn't wear a baseball cap”—Exploring children's spiritual experience through picture books. Paper presented at the 2005 Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, April 11-15, 2005, Montréal, Canada. Fitzgerald, M., Rybolt, L., & Washington, T. (2004, May). Troubling the power dynamic in early childhood settings. Session presentation at the 12th Conference of Reconceptualizing Early Childhood Education Research, Theory and Practice, “Troubling Identities,” Oslo, Norway. Fitzgerald, M. (2000, May). Preschool Effects of English Learners: A Comparison at Calwa Elementary. Paper presented at the Second Annual Meeting of the California State University, Fresno, School of Education Research Symposium, Fresno, CA. Fitzgerald, C., Decker, D., Rowden, S., Fitzgerald, M. (1999, April). Bridges to literacy from pre-k to 2nd. Session presentation at the annual meeting of the California Association for the Education of Young Children Annual Conference, Long Beach, CA. INSTITUTES AND TRAINING Work Sampling System, Participant (16 hours), June, 2010, New York City Early Childhood Environmental Rating Scale, Participant (66 hours) Spring, 2010, New York City, DOE Early Childhood Environmental Rating Scale, Participant (24 hours) Sept. 2004, Frank Porter Graham Center, UNC Management Concepts, Consulting Skills (16 hours), Participant, 2005 California School Leadership Academy, Graduate and Alumna Member, 2002 Covey Leadership Seven Habits of Highly Effective People Program, Participant, 2001 CAEYC Public Policy Internship Program, Participant & Graduate, 1995-1996 PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS National Association for the Education of Young Children, September, 1991 – Present Association Supervision and Curriculum Development, 2002 – 2008 International Reading Association, 1998 – 2001 Association of California School Administrators, 1998 – 2001