Unplugged
Dr. Brian L. Wright @DrBrianAKABrain
The Importance of Early Education in the Academic Lives of Students
@DrBrianAKABrain
Dr. Brian L. Wright is an Assistant Professor of Early Childhood Education in the Department of Instruction and Curriculum Leadership in the College of Education at the University of Memphis in Memphis, TN. His research and publications examine the role of racial-‐‑ethnic identity in the school achievement of successful African-‐‑American boys/males in urban schools preK-‐‑12. Dr.Wright’s current research projects include High-‐‑quality Early Childhood Education Programs for all children, but especially those children living in poverty, Culturally Responsive and Responsible School Readiness for African American boys (preschool and kindergarten), Literacy and African American males, African American and Latino males as Early Childhood Teachers, and Teacher Identity Development. His focus on the academic achievement of Black males, in particular, has resulted in opportunities to conduct professional development workshops for teachers sponsored by the Children’s Museum of Memphis (CMOM), and the local school district (Shelby County Schools) where he was recently appointed by the Superintendent (Dorsey E. Hopson, II) to serve in the capacity of their resident Early Childhood expert as a member of their Early Childhood/Head Start 2015-‐‑2016 Policy Council. Dr. Wright was the first African American male to earn his doctoral degree in 2007 in Applied Child Development from the Eliot-‐‑Pearson Department of Child Study and Human Development at Tufts University see http://ase.tufts.edu/epcshd/documents/newsletterSpring2009.pdf.) He completed a 2-‐‑year residential Post-‐‑doctoral Research Fellowship in Education at TERC in 2011.