Donna Blakebrough, an assistant principal at Henderson Middle School, and Jacqueline Crosson, assistant principal at New Hope Elementary School and Pinkston Street Elementary School, have earned doctoral degrees in education.
Both were notified in late October of their success in completing requirements for the degrees. Blakebrough earned her doctorate in school leadership and administration from N.C. State University. Crosson earned her doctorate in educational leadership with a concentration in curriculum and instruction from the University of Phoenix.
Blakebrough and Crosson worked full time as school adm
inistrators while they worked on getting their doctoral degrees. Both admitted that meeting all of their responsibilities, while doing the in depth work required for the degree was challenging.
inistrators while they worked on getting their doctoral degrees. Both admitted that meeting all of their responsibilities, while doing the in depth work required for the degree was challenging.
Blakebrough began work on her degree about eight years ago. During that time, her husband became ill and battled cancer for two years. He lost his battle and Blakebrough said it took another two years for her to gain the motivation again to pursue the degree. She did her dissertation on the teaching and learning that went on at Henderson Institute from 1952-1970, interviewing 10 graduates of the school.“After the interviews, I knew I had to finish this for all these wonderful alumni,” she said.
Blakebrough’s exhaustive research included hours of interviews with the graduates.
“There were several things that struck me during my research,” Blakebrough said. “First, there was the tremendous school culture in which the teachers held such high expectations for their students and told each of them they would be successful, because they had prepared them well. There was no ‘I can’t’ in the school. Teachers were always saying, ‘You can.’
“Then, there were the teacher attributes,” she continued. “All of the graduates told me that they knew their teachers loved them, because they would tell them they loved them and cared for them. The third thing was that the school had very student centered activities. The relationship between the teachers and students was all based on respect. And, there were strong relationships between the school, parents and the community. The community interest was centered around the school, even with adults who didn’t have children in the school.”
Blakebrough said she will always treasure the experience of researching and writing her 200-page dissertation.
“It was lot of work, but the historian in me loved it,” she added. “I learned so much not only about Henderson Institute (grades 9-12), but about the Henderson community. I wouldn’t take anything for that experience of talking to every one of the graduates and learning from them.”
Crosson took almost four years to complete work on her degree. Her dissertation was on the correlation between teacher retention and the principal’s leadership style in Vance County Schools.
“I received such wonderful support from people here in our schools,” she said. “I couldn’t have done it without their help.”
She mentioned she received tremendous help from local principals who included Dr. Michael Putney of Dabney Elementary, David Westbrook of Carver Elementary, and Anne Garrison, former principal of Zeb Vance Elementary. Crosson said she was especially grateful for the help and guidance from the two principals she works with, Heddie Somerville at Pinkston Street, and Dr. Harold Thompson Jr. at New Hope. Crosson splits her time each week at the two schools.
“Their support was amazing,” Crosson said of Somerville and Thompson. “They shared such great information with me and were understanding of the work I needed to do to get my degree.”
Crosson noted that she did all of her work online through the University of Phoenix. She completed the first three chapters of her dissertation in slightly more than a year and it then took about two more years to complete the final two chapters.
“It was really all about writing,” she added. “I would write and then submit my work for review. I would get suggested revisions and then I would refine the writing. It was really hard work, but a really good learning experience.”
Both Blakebrough and Crosson readily admit they are glad they have their degrees and that the hard work is behind them.
“It was a great accomplishment and I now have a great feeling of relief,” Blakebrough said.
“I’m glad it’s over,” Crosson added. “I can breathe now and not think about assignments I have to do.”
(Information for this story provided in a news release by Vance County Schools.)
