Education Alum Accepted Into Aspiring Assistant Principal Program

A Fischler College of Education and School of Criminal Justice graduate has been accepted into a prestigious program thanks to a project she did during her studies.

Coi Lazier recently graduated in June with her M.S. in Educational Leadership. During one of her final courses, the Leadership Symposium, she was tasked with developing an initiative that could potentially be used in a future interview process.

Lazier chose a project that dealt with children’s exposure to culturally relevant text.

“We had to identify a problem using data, then determine how to monitor that data, and then come up with an action plan,” Lazier said.

Lazier began by visiting a school and evaluating its classroom libraries and curriculum. In doing so, she recognized that minority students weren’t represented in the texts being used.

“I tied that back into their academia, and that could have been one of the root causes why kids were not engaged in the lesson,” Lazier said.

Lazier then developed a plan, and after working with the school and teachers, she proposed alternative texts for use.

“In doing that, I was able to track and monitor data to see if students were making progress as a result of incorporating culturally relevant texts during the literacy and social studies blocks. And to my surprise, the students in grades 3-5 made over 15% growth in ELA after I analyzed their iReady Diagnostic, district (Florida Standards Quizzes), and Florida Standards Assessment data. I was genuinely stunned at how much culturally relevant texts had such a great impact on student growth and behavior in just one trimester.

Lazier then used the initiative she designed to help her during an interview for the Palm Beach Aspiring Assistant Principal program, a program she has since been accepted to.

“During my entrance interview into the Aspiring Assistant Principal Program I was able to use the experience that I gained from the project that I worked on during the Symposium class at Nova to answer a question about a time when I developed an initiative to support student learning and build teacher capacity,” she said.

Lazier said she is incredibly thankful to both Nova and Drs. Maria Grethel Mendez and Gabriela Mendez for their assistance in helping her achieve her goals.

Lazier said she doesn’t plan to stop with the end of the program. She hopes to serve as an assistant principal, then principal, and one day become an Instructional Superintendent. In between, she said she also plans to start her Doctorate in Educational Leadership at NSU.

Congratulations Coi! Fins up to you!

Posted 10/23/22