Impacting Education: Journal on Transforming Professional Practice

EdD-Activism Through the Dissertation in Practice and Beyond

Elizabeth Currin — 2025-11-11

This special issue celebrates our colleagues, graduates, and current students for being, becoming, and supporting EdD-activists. Grounded in the Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate framework, our program has long emphasized advocating for equity and social justice, yet we recently went a step further by framing students’ action research dissertations as opportunities for activism. Stemming from these ongoing efforts, this issue may nourish comparable transformation in other schools and communities. This introduction outlines our aim to introduce and illustrate the concept of EdD-activism, aided by a range of student, graduate, and faculty voices. By highlighting students’ and graduates’ experiences and achievements as EdD-activists and describing the structures and approaches that give rise to EdD-activism, we hope to inspire other educators to see and act upon the activist potential in their own practice, as well as encouraging fellow teacher educators to instill or enhance that mindset in the students they serve.

The Activist Educator

Suha Tamim — 2025-11-11

In the Fall of 2019, the University of South Carolina hosted the convening for the Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate. In one of the sessions, the faculty of Curriculum Studies (CS) asked participants to share their perspectives on activist profiles, program strategies to support activism, and quality indicator measurements for the development and support of activism. These perspectives were analyzed, and an emerging framework for EdD activists was produced. To develop the framework further based on program-specific needs, a committee was formed, leading to a participatory action research (PAR) study team of a faculty member and graduates of the program to generate a student definition of EdD activism, an EdD activism framework, and course reflections on social justice-related courses in the CS program. This article describes the PAR study’s process, outcomes, cycles of inquiry, lessons learned, and future applications.

“So, the world isn’t just old White guys?”

Jason Sox — 2025-11-11

This action research case study investigates the integration a culturally and socially diverse curriculum in an Advanced Placement Chemistry course. Motivated by a recognition of limited multicultural teaching practices, four thematic units grounded in culturally relevant pedagogy and social reconstructionism were created and implemented. The use of surveys, reflection logs, observations, and focus group interviews provided data exploring both student and teacher experiences. Findings revealed increased student engagement, deeper understanding of content, improved relationships among students, and meaningful personal connections to the curriculum. As the teacher-researcher, I also experienced enhanced student relationships, increased confidence, and greater awareness of cultural bias. These outcomes support the use of culturally relevant pedagogy and critically reflective practices to transform science education into a more inclusive and empowering experience.

Increasing ELA Teachers’ Confidence Regarding LGBTQ+ Inclusion Through Professional Development

Nicole Mustaccio — 2025-11-11

This article addresses the prevalent hesitancy among English Language Arts (ELA) educators to incorporate LGBTQ+ authors and perspectives due to discomfort and fear of backlash from students, parents, and administration. Building on Chapter 5 of the author’s dissertation, the article proposes a professional development plan to equip teachers with practical strategies to navigate challenges related to LGBTQ+ inclusion in ELA classrooms. Central to this plan are role-play sessions designed to enhance educators’ confidence and skills in de-escalating confrontations. Empirical findings demonstrate that after targeted training, teachers report increased comfort and effectiveness in managing opposition to LGBTQ+ content. This research highlights the importance of preparatory support in fostering inclusive curricula and emphasizes the potential of professional development to promote equitable and affirming educational environments.

If Not Me, Then Who?

DiAnna S. Sox — 2025-11-11

While the student population in U.S. public schools is diversifying, the teacher population and curriculum remain monochromatic. This action research study grew from the observation that racial and cultural content and discourse were absent from the English classrooms in my suburban high school. Through this convergent mixed-method study, I sought to examine the factors that contribute to racial silence and improve teacher cultural competence in order to transform our classrooms into more racially and culturally just spaces. Resulting data suggests (a) targeted intervention can impact teacher cultural competence; (b) teachers desire more inclusive classroom practices; (c) yet that desire does not equate to action; because (d) the prevalence of fear engenders colormuteness and inhibits change. Recommended actions include committing to cultural proficiency alongside others; critically examining policies, practices, and support systems at the school and classroom level; engaging in intentional racial discourse; and providing prolonged antiracist professional development for classroom teachers.

Becoming an Education Activist Through the Action Research Dissertation

Erin Hawley Cronin — 2025-11-11

Watching Columbine unfold as a first-year teacher, I realized student mental health was more important than my English lessons. In subsequent years, I became increasingly worried about student anxiety exhibited in tears, outbursts, self-harm, suicidal ideation, and sadly, suicide. When I watched the murder of George Floyd occur blocks from where my most marginalized students lived, I finally knew I had to act. Completing my action research dissertation in the Education Doctorate program at the University of South Carolina-Columbia gave me frameworks to define problems, opportunities to research interventions, skills to both enact research protocols and pivot when needed, and insight to evaluate solutions. This process replaced my paralyzing worry with confidence to act. Now, when faced with problems, I can effectively investigate the issues, explore interventions, enact realistic solutions, assess outcomes, and make improvements. When educators use and refine research-based practices students are more likely to survive and thrive.

Cultivating Critical Consciousness

Ashley Wright — 2025-11-11

I began my higher academic journey as a student of political science and history, aiming to engage with and improve my communities. However, by 2016, I became disillusioned with my work in politics and left to pursue a career in education, focusing on developing civic education for my students. The University of South Carolina’s EdD program, with its emphasis on social justice and dedication to teacher activism, transformed my view of the teacher's role as an educator. Surprisingly, USC’s doctoral program helped bridge the gap between my academic disciplines, offering opportunities to explore how political science, history, and education intersect to foster educational activism. This article reflects on my ongoing journey of becoming an EdD activist through the University of South Carolina’s EdD program and discusses how we can continue supporting teachers involved in EdD activism after completing the dissertation in practice, from a program graduate’s perspective.

On Becoming a Community College Professor–Activist

Christine Pipitone — 2025-11-11

This article traces my intellectual and professional transformation from community college professor to professor-activist that began with my doctoral studies. Divided into four sections, it begins with an overview of the community college mission and the essential role of faculty in advancing the academic and social success of a diverse student population. The second section explores my intellectual development within the University of South Carolina’s EdD program, highlighting how coursework on equity, social justice, and action research deepened my understanding of positionality and reflective inquiry. The third section, becoming, articulates my rationale for an action research dissertation addressing community college faculty burnout and situates my scholarly growth within my evolving activist identity. The final section, beyond, envisions how I will continue leveraging my positionality as a tenured professor to advocate for policies and practices that uplift contingent and early-career colleagues, fostering a more equitable and sustainable academic community.

Past, Present, and Future as a Social Studies Educator Activist

Jessica Morey — 2025-11-11

Social studies classrooms can serve as sites of educator activism. This reflective article traces one educator’s formation as an educator‑activist and links biography to classroom practice and program design. An early love of history—nurtured by wide reading and influential secondary teachers of U.S. history and English—anchored a commitment to social studies. University experiences, including witnessing September 11, 2001 in New York City, further oriented the author toward civic engagement and positioned social studies teaching as a venue for activism. The article outlines practices intended to cultivate students’ critical thinking and political efficacy. It concludes with lessons from EdD coursework and an action research study on teacher financial capability conducted while preparing to implement a required personal finance course for graduation. Together, these reflections show how personal experience, professional learning, and inquiry can shape activist praxis and inform teacher education.

A Shared Journey Toward Social Justice Activism

DiAnna S. Sox — 2025-11-11

As a two-educator household, we entered the University of South Carolina’s EdD program in the spring of 2020 expecting to earn a degree that would provide greater financial support for our family while simultaneously refining our teaching practices. However, the program’s emphasis on social justice and advocacy resulted in more than just additional letters after our names—it transformed and reshaped our identities and perspectives, not only as individuals, but also as educators and parents. We were challenged to confront our assumptions and positionalities, broaden our understanding of equity, and embrace our roles as agents of change within our immediate spheres of influence. This article follows our shared journey and incorporates honest self-reflections of two White educators turned social justice advocates through the discovery of our White privilege and an increased awareness of the social injustices in our world but most acutely in our profession.

EdD-Activism

Molly M. Staeheli — 2025-11-11

The story of any activist educator has its own twists and turns, yet their goals of equity and social justice hold strong. This article will reflect on the vastly different journeys of a newly emerging EdD-activist teacher and a life-long activist administrator whose visions converge in a relatively large midwestern majority-minority school district, and a building where 49% of the students are Hispanic/Latino, 14% are Pacific Islander, and 33% are labeled English learners. The problem tackled here is two-fold: a culturally irrelevant boxed English language development curriculum that promises linguistic and academic success for long-term English learners, but only brings them success in assimilation, and a dearth of educators who look like these students that so desperately need voice and representation. Here, we illustrate how action research and intentional administrative efforts bring attention and possible solutions to these issues.

Becoming, Beckoning, and Belonging as Educational Activists

Whitney Neumeyer Roach — 2025-11-11

This reflective chapter explores the nuanced experiences of two faculty members within a university’s College of Education, one in the nascent stages of their career as an assistant professor and the other a seasoned professor with over three decades of academic service. Their narrative experiences pivot around the intricacies of assuming roles as educational activists within the academic domain, specifically in the context of "be-ing" Ed-activists. As the chapter delves into strategies for supporting and mentoring emerging academics, the authors invite scholarly practitioners pursuing an EdD to embrace activism while fostering a culture of belonging within this realm. This deliberate exploration challenges prevailing Western norms regarding being, knowledge, and success within academia and ultimately contributes to a broader discourse on creating more inclusive and diverse academic environments where all stakeholders actively work to counter injustice.

Erratum to: Brown, S., & Proctor, K. (2025). Dangerous Dissertations: Alternative Approaches to Dissertation Inquiry. Impacting Education: Journal on Transforming Professional Practice, 10(3), 113–122. https://doi.org/10.5195/ie.2025.494

Suha Tamim — 2025-11-11

The reference list in Brown, S. & Proctor, K. (2025). Dangerous Dissertations: Alternative Approaches to Dissertation Inquiry. Impacting Education: Journal on Transforming Professional Practice, 10(3), 113–122. https://doi.org/10.5195/ie.2025.494 contained redacted citations. The PDF of the article is correct. This error occurred during the journal editing phase. The unredacted reference list is the body of this erratum.