Background
Dr. kecia hayes has been a champion of antiracist k-12 leadership and praxis across a variety of organizational settings in New York City for more than two decades. Most recently, she led two community-focused organizations at Columbia University including the Double Discovery Center where she transformed the organization’s approach to college access and support for low-income and first-generation community youth; and the Raising Educational Achievement Coalition in Harlem where she was the founding Director and chief architect of Teachers College’s university-assisted, community school initiative. While at Columbia, kecia also founded and co-chaired Columbia’s Collaborative of Community Programs for Youth & Families to examine and extend the University’s work as an anchor institution in Harlem. kecia was an Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership at Montclair State University where she taught courses in leading school reform & improvement, community & school relations, research methods, and group dynamics. She also was a Leadership Development Facilitator/Senior Program Officer at New Visions for Public Schools where she provided intensive school improvement support for administrators and school teams at seven NYC public schools. She worked for the New York State Education Department to help with implementation of their Race to the Top initiative, with specific focus on building networks of data-driven learning within and across schools. Her dissertation documented the educational experiences of young men at Rikers Island and examined the impact of a Sternberg’s multiple intelligence literacy program on the young men. kecia’s professional work and research primarily focus on urban school leadership and school structures; community engagement; and anchor institutions. kecia has presented at numerous conferences including AERA and has several publications.
