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IEL & Harvard Grad. School of Ed. Welcome 2019 Meade Fellows

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IEL & Harvard Grad. School of Ed. Welcome 2019 Meade Fellows

IEL and the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) announced the 2019 Meade Fellows: Danila Crespin Zidovsky and Stefan Lallinger. The Fellowship gives HGSE students the opportunity to travel to Washington, D.C. to connect with education policy leaders.

Contact:
                  Leilah Mooney Joseph
202-822-8405 x 131

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Institute for Educational Leadership (IEL) and the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) today announced the 2019 Meade Fellows: Danila Crespin Zidovsky and Stefan Lallinger. The Meade Fellowship gives HGSE students the opportunity to travel to Washington, D.C., visit leading education organizations, and connect with leaders at the forefront of education policy. Established in 1996, the Meade Fellowship honors Edward J. Meade, Jr. and his work on education initiatives for the Ford Foundation, including the establishment of IEL.

IEL President Dr. Johan E. Uvin congratulated the 2019 Meade Fellows and welcomed them to Washington, “IEL is proud to support these distinguished scholars as they make meaningful connections with education leaders and expand on their crucial equity work through the Meade Fellowship. I look forward to seeing all that Mr. Lallinger and Ms. Crespin Zidovsky will bring to the world of education policy, and I’m proud that IEL can support their work through this fellowship.”

Danila Crespin Zidovsky is a first-year doctoral student in the Ed.L.D. program at HGSE. She is a first-generation Mexican American raised in Albuquerque, N.M. Crespin Zidovsky has taught both in the United States and South Korea. After working for a member of Congress, she earned her Master’s degree in Public Administration from the University of New Mexico and has since focused her career on early childhood education. Crespin Zidovsky serves on the boards of the Center for Civic Policy, UNM School of Public Administration, and Emerge New Mexico.

“I am interested in strong public policy that funds and expands access to high-quality early learning programming for every child in America,” said Crespin Zidovsky of her education policy goals. “I believe the early years are where we see the largest return on investment, and yet where we consistently invest the least.” 

Stefan Lallinger is a third-year doctoral student in the Ed.L.D. program at HGSE. He is a RIDES fellow and coordinates the Education Redesign Lab’s By All Means Initiative in Providence, R.I. He will undertake his doctoral residency in the New York City Department of Education beginning in June 2019. He served as principal, assistant principal, and teacher for nine years at Langston Hughes Academy, a pre-K through 8th-grade open-enrollment school in the Recovery School District in post-Katrina New Orleans. Lallinger earned a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Development Studies from Brown University and a Master’s degree in History from the University of New Orleans.

“We find ourselves at a very interesting political moment in education reform, with a pro-school choice Secretary of Education whose administration is extremely unpopular among the very people whom most folks would credit with being the driving force behind the expansion of charter schools and the school choice agenda over the past two decades: reform-minded progressives,” said Lallinger upon receiving the Meade Fellowship. “I would like to explore how this dynamic is playing out in the circles of decision-makers and influencers in D.C.”

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About the Institute for Educational Leadership: Founded in 1964, the Institute for Educational Leadership’s mission is to partner with under-resourced communities to equip leaders to better prepare children, youth, adults, and families for postsecondary education and training, rewarding careers, and civic and community engagement. For more information about the Institute for Educational Leadership, visit: http://iel.org/