About Margery Ginsberg

Margery Ginsberg bike riding in fall

For over twenty years, Dr. Margery Ginsberg has provided direct service to schools, school districts, colleges, universities and organizations serving the field of education.

Recipient of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) Relating Research to Practice Award, her work builds on experience as a university professor and for nearly a decade, director of the University of Washington–Seattle doctoral program for aspiring educational leaders.

Earlier in her career she was a teacher on the Menominee and Southern Ute reservations, U.S. Dept. of Education-funded Title I technical assistance provider to state education agencies, coordinator of migrant education in a nine-state region in the Southwest United States, and director of evaluation for the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES).

The following link, recently written for the American Council on Education, explains the cornerstone of Margery’s work: A Motivational Framework for Instructional Equity in Higher Education.

Her most recent books, Enhancing Adult Motivation to Learn, 4th ed. (JosseyBass/WIley) and Excited to Learn: Motivation & Culturally Responsive Teaching (Corwin Press, 2015) received prestigious awards for outstanding educational literature.

Her co-authored book Diversity & Motivation: Culturally Responsive Teaching in College (Jossey-Bass/Wiley) received the 2011 Cyril O. Houle Award for Outstanding Literature in Adult Education.

Her work with under-resourced schools received a U.S. Department of Education National Professional Development Award. For a recent article about Margery’s partnership with a Chicago public primary school that has developed its own approach to classroom visits, see https://learningforward.org

Margery has a Ph.D. in Bilingual/Multicultural/Social Foundations of Education from the University of Colorado-Boulder. She currently lives in Chicago, Illinois with her husband, Raymond Wlodkowski and can be reached at margeryginsberg@gmail.com.

Honors

  • Cyril O. Houle Award for Outstanding Literature in Adult Education
  • Model National Professional Development Award
  • 2013 AERA Relating Research to Practice Award in the category of direct involvement with the educational community
  • 2015 IndieFab Best of Forward Reviews’​ Book of the Year Award for Outstanding Literature in Education

Vision

To create schools and systems of higher education where students and faculty are intrinsicially motivated to reach valued goals through high levels of performance.

Valued goals include:

  • high levels of academic achievement
  • joy of learning throughout life
  • active and engaged community participation
  • knowledge and skills to earn a living wage

 

At the University of Washington-Seattle (UW-Seattle) where I worked for approximately 10 years, my teaching, research, and consulting interests were (and are) intrinsic motivation as the foundation of K-12 and post-secondary instruction and school change, culturally responsive teaching, school transformation, and college teaching.

In addition to serving as lead faculty for the doctoral program in executive educational leadership, I taught courses in instructional leadership, professional learning, urban school transformation, and families & students as partners in change.

I also co-directed the AIM Center, which is housed at Cleveland High School in Seattle. At the AIM Center (aimcenterseattle.org) I worked with teachers, educational leaders, high school & graduate students, and families to support Cleveland High’s development as a district and statewide professional learning center. In partnership, and from a strengths-focused perspective, we visited homes, shadowed students, visited classrooms in teams led by students, and examined assessment practices to create more inclusive, relevant, challenging, engaging, and success-oriented student learning. Teachers used the shared language of “the motivational framework for culturally responsive teaching” to collaborate on instructional effectiveness across subject areas and grade levels.

My courses were often taught in concert with practicing educators, community members, and youth. Although many factors contribute to school improvement, Cleveland High School received an award from Washington State for its 22-point increase in reading scores, 15-point increase in the graduation rate and a 100-student surge in enrollment.

The school continues to excel academically and, importantly, as a place where teachers and students love to learn.close quote