Counseling, Educational Psychology and Foundations assistant professor selected for Mississippi Education Policy Fellowship Program

Qiana Cutts, assistant professor in the department of counseling, educational psychology and foundations, is a new selection for the Mississippi Education Policy Fellowship Program.

One of just 17 sites in the country the Mississippi Education Policy Fellowship Program is a year-long program sponsored by the Office of Research and Economic Development, the Research and Curriculum unit, both at Mississippi State, and the Institute for Educational Leadership in Washington, DC. The program focuses on both state and national education policy and how educators and leaders in education can influence that policy.

Cutts, who received her Ph.D. from Georgia State, admits that in the past she hasn’t spent as much time focusing on policy as she would have liked, recalling a conversation with her middle school principal asking her if she wanted to be an administrator one day. When she told him she wasn’t sure, that it seemed like too much politics, he explained that it was mainly policy with some politics in the mix, but that policy drives politics. 

“As I’ve stayed in education longer, I see just how much policy matters, and how much we need to understand how it matters and how it shapes the experiences of our K-12 students,” Cutts said.

After reading about the Mississippi Education Policy Fellowship Program, she decided to apply and was accepted. Cutts and other program fellows learn about specific policy issues, policymaking, and implementation processes; the intersections of local, state, and national policies; and how effective leaders function in the policy environment. 

Each month the program meets in Jackson and brings fellows and ideas together through a variety of onsite learning activities designed to create a personal development laboratory for applying new insights and cultivating new skills. In March, participants travel to Washington, D.C. to hear and discuss education policy with respected policymakers from across the state and nation.

Cutts explained that the Mississippi Education Policy Fellowship Program has encouraged her to explore more in policy has empowered her to bring some of what she has learned back to her classroom. Ultimately, she would like to give undergraduate students the change to learn more of an introduction to education policy so they will understand more how things work.

“Hopefully, these students will be the next generation of people who are making those decisions so we can have more educators at the table or in the room doing whatever it is they need to do to influence policy.”