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Allison Woodard has always loved teaching literacy, and previously spent several years mentoring other teachers on strategies that lead to improvements in students’ reading and writing as a literacy coach in Regional School Unit (RSU) 26, the school district serving Orono.

That’s why when working toward her Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) at the 91����, Woodard, now assistant principal of Old Town Elementary School, focused on tackling a key issue for her dissertation: the in-the-moment decisions teachers make during literacy instruction and how those decisions can lead to better outcomes for students.   

“As I got into an administrative role, I wondered why teachers were making the decisions they were making and about all of the new literacy programs that are available for schools,” said Woodard. “I wanted to be able to answer some of those questions through research, and get a better understanding of what our teachers are doing in the classroom.”  

Woodard is one of 10 full-time professional educators who just graduated with their Ed.D. degrees. Many of them were already leaders in their schools and communities. Now, using what they learned through their courses and dissertation research, they are able to make even greater contributions while advancing in their careers. 

For Woodard, that means continuing to mentor teachers in a new role that she’ll be stepping into next school year as principal of Marcia Buker Elementary School in Richmond. Eventually, she hopes the doctorate will allow her to teach literacy at a college or university, helping shape the next generation of reading and writing teachers in Maine. 

“I’m so glad 91���� has the opportunities it has,” Woodard said. “Living in Orono, it was a natural choice for me to get my doctorate here, but I don’t believe I would have found a better opportunity elsewhere.”

Statewide impact, local relevance

Based in schools and districts spanning two states, including five counties in Maine, the members of this year’s Ed.D. cohort currently serve in positions such as superintendent, assistant superintendent, principal, assistant principal, special education director, instructional coach and classroom teacher. They not only spent the past four years taking classes together, but also supported each other through dissertation research and writing.

An innovative, 100% live and online executive doctoral degree, the Ed.D. program uses a cohort model that brings working professionals together to share knowledge and develop the research skills needed to critically engage with educational practices and better support the students, families and communities they serve. Each member of the cohort chooses a problem-of-practice related to their professional work to investigate for their dissertation.

Nicole Hatch is one of three 2026 Ed.D. graduates who work at Rockland-based RSU 13, a rural district serving five communities in midcoast Maine. Having grown up in the midcoast, Hatch, who is an assistant principal at Oceanside High School in Rockland, was eager to explore the dual roles that teachers in rural schools fulfill as professional educators and regular members of the communities that they serve.

“It was a narrative inquiry using emotional intelligence as a tool to navigate issues of rurality, the overlaps between teachers and students, and school leaders and students, and the dual-relationships and power dynamics that exist in small communities,” said Hatch, who has a background in school-based and clinical counseling. “The study was a great reminder of the influential roles and power we educators have in our communities, and how we can be mindful of that and maintain positive relationships with our students and their families who don’t have a choice of where they go to school or who their school leaders are.”

Hatch said she plans to stay in her position at Oceanside for now while pursuing principal certification and continuing to serve students throughout the midcoast both as an educator and as community member.

Heather Mitchell, another recent Ed.D. graduate, has held various building administrator roles at schools in RSU 29, the district for Houlton in Aroostook County. She’s currently administrator and teacher at Summit Academy, the district’s alternative education school. 

For her dissertation, Mitchell originally set out to do a comparative study of parent expectations for alternative education versus general education. That morphed into a project that explored parent-voice in administrative decision-making, through which she found that caregivers — regardless of whether their child was in an alternative or a traditional classroom — wanted a model. A framework that’s already employed by several schools in Maine, the model provides targeted academic, behavioral and social-emotional services and interventions to meet the needs of students.

“I believe the next step is to work with teachers and hopefully organizations beyond the school and the district to make sure that kids are getting all the support they need no matter what type of classroom they’re learning in,” Mitchell said. 

The Ed.D. will allow Mitchell to take on additional roles and responsibilities, including becoming a district-level administrator, she said.

A belief in each other

Each Ed.D. in educational leadership cohort at 91���� collectively chooses a name for itself. The name chosen by the group that just graduated was the Credo Cohort. The word “Credo” derives from the Latin word for “I believe” and means “an idea or set of beliefs that guides the actions of a person or group.”

“It helped tremendously to go through this process together,” said Woodard. “We met almost every week, developed critical friendships and partnerships within the cohort. We had people we were able to reach out to in times of need.”

“I can’t imagine going through a learning experience like this without that type of support,” said Hatch. “I can look outside and name other things, but it was really that we leaned on each other, and these friendships and relationships within the group. These educators are 100% my role models.”

This year’s group of Ed.D. graduates is among the largest doctoral cohorts from a single program to graduate from 91���� in recent years. In addition to each other, members of the cohort say they leaned on associate professor of educational leadership Esther Enright, who served as chair for all of their dissertation committees, as well as other 91���� educational leadership faculty members, including Catharine Biddle, Lindsey Kaiser, Maria Frankland and Paul Austin.

“I’m incredibly proud of this group and the perseverance they showed in getting to graduation,” said Enright. “Completing a doctorate is a massive undertaking by itself, and all of them did it while balancing their professional duties, including all of the challenges facing educators today, serving as role models and leaders in their communities, raising families, and so much more.”

The other members of the Credo Cohort include Janet Corcoran, Benjamin Greenlaw, Briana Haynes-Morrill, Janet Hicks, Steffany Tribou, Amy Sullivan and Sue Sydnor. 

Contact: Casey Kelly, casey.kelly@maine.edu