Towards the end of my second year at Oakland, I was offered a promotion to director of residential services.  The current residential supervisory staff would be leaving after the following year and I would spend my third year transitioning into the position.  Though I had planned to leave Oakland after my third year I could not pass up the opportunity.  I accepted the promotion and at the beginning of my fourth year at Oakland, I was responsible for running the residential program.  The responsibilities included recruiting, hiring, training, and supervising the residential staff while developing the recreational program.  The first year was  difficult because I did not use an effective leadership style.  I tried to be everyone’s friend and it resulted in people not performing very well at their jobs.  At the end of that first year, I created very clear job expectations and held everyone accountable for them.  I was able to retain some quality staff members but also had to hire some new ones.  I learned to be rigid in my hiring decisions to ensure I could obtain the best staff possible.  By the second year, I had an excellent staff with a variety of talents to contribute to the students.  I attended a few management seminars and learned to be an assertive leader for the program.  The biggest lesson I learned was that it was not enough to be the most experienced.  I also needed to learn how to properly manage the staff in order to lead them.

            During my first year as Director of Residential Services I also began taking classes at the University of Virginia.  I was still interested in pursuing a doctorate in clinical psychology and the senior psychologist was on the faculty for that program.  I was able to take three classes in the clinical doctorate program as a professional development student.  However, while taking those classes, I realized that clinical psychology was not the appropriate path for me.  I wanted to be able to help people but to reach a broader audience.

            I continued to run the residential program while I tried to figure out the direction for my career.  At the beginning of my third year running the residential program, the school director suggested I become involved with their accrediting body, the Virginia Association of Independent Specialized Education Facilities (VAISEF).  Specifically, she thought I would enjoy participating on their government affairs committee.  I contacted the chairman of the committee and was invited to the next meeting.  The first assignment I received was to track legislation and research the safety issues surrounding 15 passenger vans.  There was talk that a bill would be proposed in Virginia that would ban their use for schools.  I watched the Virginia Legislative Information System closely for any legislation and learned as much as I could about the safety issues.  Eventually the legislation was proposed and though it was voted down, I composed a list of safety tips for the VAISEF membership to help them use the van safely.  Very early in my work with the government affairs committee I realized that I wanted to direct my career path towards working in special education policy.  I wanted to help as many people as possible and realized that taking a global approach through policy would impact many lives.

            The diligence on the van project helped me earn a more challenging assignment.  Virginia was proposing changes to the regulations for residential programs and I was asked to form an ad hoc committee to review the standards, make recommendations, and develop a position paper.  At first, this project was intimidating as I would be leading people who were more educated and had been in the field for much longer than I had.  I formed a committee and we spent about a year discussing the changes we thought were beneficial and developing recommendations to the changes we thought would be detrimental.  We met with the state officials from the regulatory agency to clarify some of the definitions and to ensure that we were interpreting the intent of the standards appropriately.  We developed a position paper that was eventually adopted by the VAISEF board.  The direction of the proposed regulations changed and the paper was never submitted for public comment.  During that year, I was also asked to participate on a VAISEF accreditation team for a program that was seeking initial accreditation.   I enjoyed this experience because it was a collaborative effort.  If we found something that did not meet a standard, we worked with them on how to fix it rather than citing them for being out of compliance and requesting a corrective action plan.

            One of the biggest learning experiences of my life occurred when I began teaching at Phillips.  Phillips is a separate private day school for students who are not able to receive an appropriate education in the public school setting.  I worked in a self-contained classroom with nine boys aged 15-18 with emotional disabilities.  The students came from a much different background from me and viewed the value of education much differently.  I tried to quickly learn the cultural values of the students so that I could present the material in a way that was meaningful.  In addition, I also worked towards providing hands-on activities to keep them engaged.  Each day was challenging as the lives of the students outside of the school environment strongly contributed to their behavior when they were at school.  However, I was able to make a connection to these students and found the work with them extremely rewarding.  I worked with a variation of that group of students as they entered and left the program for three years.  Each year I volunteered to continue working with the same classroom as I felt I was making a difference in their lives.

            At the beginning of my third year in the classroom I became active with the VAISEF government affairs committee again.  I had taken some time away to focus on my coursework and adjust to being in the classroom.  At that point, I was asked to be the vice-chair of the committee and focus on state regulatory changes that may be occurring.

            In January of 2009 I began an incredible journey in beginning the doctoral program in education policy at George Mason University.  I have learned to view the world differently in recognizing how things are known and how assumptions are made.  I have also learned how knowledge is generated and challenged within the academic environment.  I have had the opportunity to work for a as a graduate reviewer for the International Journal of Education Policy and Leadership and am in the process of working on several research projects ranging from nonpublic programs in special education to alternative teacher certification.

            Since entering the doctoral program, I have learned how communities interact with each other to establish knowledge.  I have also learned that leadership (like policy) entails looking to the future and steering an organization (or policy) to accommodate the environment that will exist in the future.  Sharing knowledge within organizational communities will allow organizations to be able to adapt to the environment of the future and help them survive.  As a doctoral student, I have learned how that knowledge is developed and shared.  The other think I have learned is the multiple lenses that people use to look at the world.  Our interpretation of information is informed by our prior experiences and knowledge.  Since every individual has unique experiences, there is no one interpretation or one truth.  Therefore, communities must also work together to develop a mutual understanding of how to interpret information.  I have the ability to make a loose application of these concepts to the policy community and as my education progresses, the ability to make those applications will increase.

            The biggest lessons I have learned and the greatest personal growth within the academic program have come from mistakes and misperceptions.  I have learned that in writing and thinking, it is important to take a step a back to analyze the practicality of what is being said.  Though one may be able to make a logical argument for something, it may not be possible to exist in reality.  Therefore, it is important to consider the context for the application of what is being discussed.  The other lesson I have learned is that in addition to learning from professors, I am also learning from fellow students.  When I started the program, I had a tendency to want to always answer any question posed to the class.  I have learned the importance of focusing on the contributions of other students rather than always have an answer of my own.  My classmates have their own experiences to inform their contributions which offers a different perspective than my own.  Focusing on the perspectives of others will enhance my learning experience and enrich my education in the doctoral program.

            One of the greatest growth opportunities in the program came while I was interning for the National Association of State Directors of Special Education (NASDSE).  The internship at NASDSE provided firsthand experience with how policy is developed and influenced.  The internship was my first professional experience outside of a school setting and I learned about both the policy and grant components for NASDSE.  I was able to gain an understanding of how policy associations are set up and most importantly, I realized it is the type of environment and climate in which I would like to work.

            As I come to this point of my journey in the doctoral program I look back and recognize I have learned to view the world differently.  In addition to the lessons described above, I have learned several new ones.  I have learned a variety of policy frameworks and theories that allow me to frame policy issues in a way that can be studied with either empirical or constructivist methods.  When evaluating an issue I have learned to ask myself, is there a problem with the issue or am I viewing the issue with the wrong perspective.  I have learned to try to understand the lens through which information is being conveyed so that I can interact with information in a meaningful manner.  The other big lesson I have learned is the connection between research paradigms and methods.  The philosophical assumptions that serve as the underpinnings of methods are necessary to connect the outcome of a study to the body of knowledge that existed before it.  Most importantly, I have learned that I wish to continue learning by conducting research and contributing to the pre-existing body of knowledge.