Degrees Earned
- Ed. D in Educational Leadership, University of Sarasota
- Ed.S in Educational Administration and Supervision, University of West Georgia
- M.Ed in K-12 School Counseling, University of North Carolina Charlotte
- B.A. in Psychology and Social Sciences, Western Carolina University
Biography
Dr. Cyndy Stephens is an Adjunct Professor of Leadership at Concordia University Irvine. Her professional experiences include state-level, district and district private and public education as teacher and educational diagnostician in a residential/day treatment center for severely emotional disturbed children and youth ages 6-16; district-wide Student Support Team Program Coordinator in a large district; Assistant Principal in a diverse school of nearly 1500 elementary students including a substantial special education population; Principal in a rapidly changing and increasingly diverse elementary school that was named Local, State and National School of Excellence–which was selected among the first twenty-four “Charter Schools” in the Georgia League of Professional Schools and named as one of three Lighthouse Schools by the Georgia State Board of Education. Dr. Stephens led a unique partnership with a large state university and feeder schools that resulted in formation of her district’s first collaborative Elementary/Middle/High School Dialogue, Planning Cluster and Articulation Cluster.
Dr. Stephens was awarded National Distinguished Principal by the United States Department of Education. At the state level, she was named Director of the first Georgia Teaching Force Center, appointed Division Director for Educator Workforce Development, Research and Recruitment and, Program and was Director for Transition to Teaching Grants and Educator Workforce Development in the Georgia Professional Standards Commission. In the Georgia Department of Education, she was Senior Staff Specialist for School Improvement, Accountability, and Evaluation, Testing and Research divisions.
Prior to joining Concordia University Irvine, Dr. Stephens was adjunct professor of teacher and leader preparation in private and public colleges and universities. She is past Regional Director, President and Policy Director for the National Association for Alternative Certification and is a long-time member in the American Association of School Personnel Administrators, National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education and Certification, Georgia Association of School Personnel Administrators and Georgia Association of Educational Leaders. Dr. Stephens is a trained education mediator, continues to serve on state, regional and national education committees and panels, and is a frequent speaker, trainer and leader for ensuring leadership capacity, quality and access and practice-excellence.
Areas of Expertise
- Organizational Leadership, Assessment and Change
- Continuous School Improvement
- Site-based Team Building and Shared Governance
- Building and Sustaining Preparation, Community, Business, Policy and School/District Partnerships
- Educator Supply and Demand Data and Planning
- Teacher and Leader Succession Planning
- Building the Educator Pipeline
- Alternative Teacher and Leader Preparation and Certification
- Educator Recruitment, Selection, Placement and Retention
- Policy and Practice Alignment for Organizational Effectiveness
- District and School-based Network Improvement Communities
- Teaching and Learning in Equity-Centered Schools
- Teacher and Leader Professional Development including Micro-Credentialing Grant Development and Management
Current Certifications
- PHCLE – Professional Human Capital Leader in Education, American Association of School Personnel Administrators
- K-12 Educational Leadership and School Counseling, Georgia Professional Standards Commission (GaPSC)