Educational Leadership and Policy Studies
Ed.D.
Howard University
2005
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Faculty
Faculty
Lisa Maria Grillo (She/Her )
Assistant Professor
Department/Office
- Educational Leadership & Policy Studies
School/College
- School of Education
Biography
As a teacher, leader and scholar with over 25 years of experience in public education, Lisa currently serves as assistant professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies in the Howard University School of Education. Her research is currently focused on the experiences of Black and Latina women who lead in educational settings. Prior to this role, Lisa successfully led district and school level initiatives to improve student outcomes for diverse student populations in large urban and suburban school districts. As principal in the District of Columbia Public Schools, Lisa led her school community in earning Autonomous School Status, an award given to a select cohort of high-performing schools that allows for greater school-based autonomy in the areas of budgeting, instructional programming, and professional development.
As assistant superintendent for special education services in the Wake County Public School System in North Carolina, Lisa led a district-wide strategic planning effort to significantly improve the quality of special education services and programs for 20 thousand students with disabilities. In both of her roles as chief human resources officer in Baltimore County Public Schools and Baltimore City Public Schools, Lisa led the design and implementation of a contemporary human capital effectiveness framework which incorporated organizational and professional development for district staff, with special emphasis on principals and teachers. In her tenure-track faculty position at the University of New Mexico, Lisa conducted research in the areas of special education leadership and culturally responsive leadership.
Lisa earned her Bachelor of Arts and Master of Teaching degrees from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia. She earned her Certificate of Advanced Graduate Study and Doctor of Education degree from Howard University in Washington, DC. Lisa is the mother of one son and currently lives in Bowie, Maryland.
Education & Expertise
Education
Educational Leadership and Policy Studies
Certificate of Advanced Graduate Study
Howard University
2001
Special Education
Master of Teaching
The University of Virginia
Spanish
Bachelor of Arts
The University of Virginia
Expertise
Leadership for Special Education
Leadership for Diverse Student Populations
Black Women who Lead in Education
Teacher and School Leader Recruitment
Academics
Academics
ELPS 521- Educational Administration and Governance
The goal of the Educational Administration and Governance course is to facilitate candidates’ deep thinking concerning substantive aspects of administration and governance. Candidates will examine and critique the extent to which social justice and equity exists for students who have traditionally experienced oppression at the societal level, as well as in micropolitical public schools in the United States. Using Critical Race Theory as the theoretical framework, candidates will be provided learning opportunities to understand, challenge, reflect upon and make practical applications of administrative theory and policy vis-à-vis the impact upon Black and Brown students. Utilizing key elements of both democratic classroom and adult learning theories, governance structures and the underpinnings of policy-making will also be covered in this course through a contemporary examination of interest groups that shape the ways in which public education as a socio-political function is conceived, perceived, structured and implemented.
ELPS 514- Organizational Change
This course is a study of major ideas on school improvement/change, and change within universities past and present, and of emerging research on the condition of public education in the U.S. In addition, an in-depth examination of reform proposals for changing the organization of schools, the instructional program, and the roles of students, teachers, school administrators, and external stakeholders will be examined through a cultural lens and at times through an African centered lens. This is a theoretical/change theory course.This course explores theories and models of change in organizations and their applicability to educational organizations and the work done in them. The course pays particular attention to aspects of decision-making, leadership and organizational change and to the influence of internal and external actors. The course also examines many of the administrative practices and processes common in educational organizations.
EDAP 254: Concept Cases in Administration and Supervision
The purpose of this course is to provide students through use of simulations, case studies, and vicarious experiences, the challenges, problems, and problem-solving opportunities in school leadership and supervision. It will expose students to approximations of the real world of the practitioner through the use of the case study method in the review of essential information in simulated situations. The course is also designed to wholly prepare students for the School Leaders Licensure Assessment, which is required for school leader certification in most states.