Lillie Jefferson, a Ph.D. in Education student, is exploring consistency of curricula across schools to find a connection between a particular curriculum and the developmental levels of the students, and the importance of early intervention for children who are not meeting the standards for their grade. This is the focus of her KAMs (or Knowledge Area Modules), which are independent study projects focused on a student’s individual interests, culminating in a research paper.
Jefferson received her B.A. in education from the University of Houston, but when she graduated in 1970, she decided to apply for a position as an insurance underwriter. As a black woman, she faced resistance at first, but she persisted and eventually got the job, and has been defying expectations ever since. She worked in the insurance industry until the company’s branch offices closed, then she had children and decided to return to her initial passion.
A teacher preparation program at a local university convinced her “that teaching was really my forté. I chose mathematics because there was a lot of excitement in it in terms of learning experiences.” After more than 15 years, Jefferson retired from full-time teaching and made the switch to part-time consulting for a tutorial service and working as a math tutor. “Maintaining a connection with students keeps me going,” she says. As a consultant, she helps the tutoring company work with the school system to set up mathematics curricula, develop intervention programs for struggling students, and address requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act.
Although Jefferson felt she had the experience and the knowledge, she says, “I didn’t have the credentials.” So she decided to pursue a master’s degree at Walden University. Jefferson completed her M.S. in Education with a specialization in Mathematics in 2006, earning a 4.0 grade point average. When Jefferson’s enrollment advisor suggested that she pursue a doctorate, she decided to return to Walden because her experience at the master’s level was so positive. She also hoped that a Ph.D. would help her expand her consulting career, allowing her to better effect social change by helping to improve the educational process. And after all, she thought: “The Ph.D. is the highest level you can get, so why not go for it?”
A year into her doctoral program, Jefferson particularly likes the way the curriculum is presented. “It allows you to be creative and apply your experience, and at the same time to move your experience in a positive direction,” she says. “It makes you rethink how you’ve done things.” At first, she says, she “was really stumbling with the KAM learning process—it’s a different experience at a higher level—the writing and the research. But I’m beginning to understand how to align what the university is requiring of me with what I want to do in my research.” Her system for staying focused? Myriad Post-It notes arranged around her computer, outlining the work of the different theorists she’s studying.
Jefferson also has the support of her family and friends. “My mom is standing by me,” she says, “and there are other people who say, ‘If you need something, let me know.’” And Jefferson’s two sons are now enrolled in Walden’s B.S. in Business Administration program. Most of all, she’s supported by her own determination. “I don’t want to get anything under an A,” she says, “and I’m going to work until I do!”
Her goals include helping to “improve teacher training and community understanding of what’s required from a society that’s high in technology.” She particularly deplores the practices of “teaching to the test” and allowing young children who have failed a state assessment to advance a grade, because they don’t catch up and “the gap in learning widens, thereby increasing the threat of dropout,” she says.
Jefferson hopes to use her credentials to influence the school system to focus on early intervention. “If a child fails reading and math in the first grade, you have to catch it with an intervention at that point,” she explains. “If we work with our younger children, then we will be able to reduce the dropout rate.”
It’s clear that for Jefferson, a doctorate is not the end of the road when it comes to achievement, but the beginning. “Even once you get the Ph.D.,” she says, “you still have to keep up, because the world is changing every day.”
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