Dorinda Carter Andrews
Each year, university and community partners are selected to jointly receive the Outreach Scholarship Community Partnership award at the Michigan State University Awards Convocation. Among this year’s recipients is Department of Teacher Education Associate Professor Dorinda Carter Andrews.
Given for their work to close the achievement gaps in East Lansing Public Schools, Carter Andrews, along with current East Lansing schools Superintendent Clifford Seybert and David Chapin, former superintendent, will receive the award at the All-University Awards ceremony at the Wharton Center on Feb. 11.
Closing the Achievement Gap in East Lansing Public Schools is an initiative focused on identifying factors that contribute to African American student under-performance and implementing academic and cultural interventions for student success. With significant collaboration between school district leaders, administrators, parent groups and teachers, ELPS and MSU students, the massive effort has led to major contributions to the school district and larger community.
Carter Andrews’s leadership has had multiple positive educational, organizational and curricular outcomes, including:
- Creation of the Achievement Gap Task Force (now in its fourth year)
- Establishment of a Director of Educational Equity position
- A diversity conference at East Lansing High School
- ELPS membership in the Minority Student Achievement Network
- Community forums on race and cultural diversity
Carter Andrews has garnered national recognition for her work on race and equity in education. Her research emphasis is on black student achievement in urban and suburban schools, and over the past five years, she has worked closely with ELPS to develop interventions that increase individuals’ cultural humility and competency. She has worked with each school’s staff to better understand how to make data-driven decisions about meeting the academic and social needs of marginalized youth.
Given to scholars who exemplify community and campus collaboration, this scholarship-guided outreach provides an outstanding example of MSU’s land-grant mission.