Lee  Alvoid

Clinical Associate Professor & Department Chair

3101 University Blvd, Ste.306,
Dallas, 75205
Box 750114
214-768-1176
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Lee Alvoid was an educator in the Carrollton-Farmers Branch I.S.D. for thirty-two years prior to her retirement in 2001. She held positions as a middle school teacher, curriculum consultant, middle and high school assistant principal, and middle and high school principal. Public school career highlights include election to the presidency of the Texas Association of Secondary School Principals as the first female officer. During her year as president of the association in 1995, she assisted legislators with the total rewriting of the Texas Education Code. As principal of Newman Smith High School, she led a school reform movement that resulted in three awards from the United States Department of Education in 1998. Those awards included: The Blue Ribbon School of Excellence designation, an award for Special Emphasis in the Arts, and designation as a New American High School. As a New American High School, Newman Smith served as a demonstration school for the U.S.D.E., assisting high schools interested in student-centered reform.

Dr. Alvoid began teaching in the Center for Teacher Education at Southern Methodist University as an adjunct in spring 2001. She was appointed to a Lecturer position for the Fall Semester 2003 and appointed as a Senior Lecturer in AY 2005-06 in the Department of Teaching and Learning. She taught classes for Early Childhood - Grade 6 certification and Grades 5-12 certification as well as graduate classes for the M.Ed. program and the Gifted and Talented Endorsement.

In December 2008, the Department of Education Policy and Leadership was approved by the SMU Board of Trustees. Dr. Alvoid moved to the EPL department and helped develop the first of three M.Ed. programs in Educational Leadership. The first degree for principal certification was launched in Fall 2009. In 2011, three additional degrees were launched, a M.Ed. with a specialization in urban school leadership, a specialization in higher education leadership and a Ph.D. specialization in Policy and Leadership. She was named Department Chair in 2010.

Dr. Alvoid’s research interests are in the design of quality assessment instruments to measure both student achievement and secondary literacy development. Assessment of school leader effectiveness is a recent research interest. Dr. Alvoid and Dr. Beverly Weiser published an article on this topic in Oxford Bibliographies in Education released in February 2012

Dr. Alvoid’s degrees include a B.A. in History and English from U.T. Austin (1969), an M.Ed. from Southern Methodist University in Secondary Education (1973), and a Ph.D. from Texas Women’s University in Reading and Educational Leadership (1983).

Consulting Work:

Spring 2006-2007: Directed the development of 5 courses for a Masters in Educational Leadership program for the American College of Education. The program served aspiring administrators in the Chicago Public Schools and was accredited in Illinois.