Sally J. Zepeda

SALLY J. ZEPEDA, Ph.D., is a Professor at the University of Georgia, College of Education. Her academic program is Educational Administration and Policy. Prior to joining UGA, Dr. Zepeda was a Professor in the Program of Educational Administration, Curriculum, and Supervision at the University of Oklahoma. Before entering higher education, Dr. Zepeda served as a high school English and speech teacher, director of special programs, assistant principal, and principal.

Dr. Zepeda holds a bachelor’s degree in Language and Literature from the College of St. Scholastica (MN) and master’s and Doctor of Philosophy degrees from Loyola University Chicago. She was a visiting scholar at Northwestern University (Evanston) after receiving the prestigious Golden Apple Award from the Foundation for Excellence in Teaching.

Dr. Zepeda teaches courses related to instructional supervision, professional development, and teacher evaluation. Following her research expertise, Dr. Zepeda has written widely about educational administration and leadership related to the principalship, the supervision and evaluation of teachers and leaders, and leadership succession and socialization.

Dr. Zepeda has published over 70 refereed journal articles, numerous book chapters, and monographs that have appeared in both research and professional publications. She has authored over 30 books across professional learning, supervision, and leadership. Some of her authored books include:

• Instructional supervision: Applying tools and concepts (4th ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.

[Translated into Turkish, 2016]

• The emerging work of today’s superintendent: Leading schools and communities to educate all children. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield [with Philip D. Lanoue].

[Co-published by the American School Superintendents Association]

• Informal Classroom Observations on the Go: Feedback, Discussion, and Reflection (3rd edition). New York, NY: Routledge.
• Professional Development: What Works (3rd edition). New York, NY: Routledge.
• Job-embedded Professional Development: Support, Collaboration, and Learning in Schools. New York, NY: Routledge.
• The Leader’s Guide to Working with Underperforming Teachers: Overcoming Marginal Teaching and Getting Results. New York, NY: Routledge.
• The Principal as Instructional Leader: A Handbook for Supervisors (3rd edition). New York, NY: Routledge.

Dr. Zepeda has also edited books including

• Supervision: New Perspectives for Theory and Practice. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. [with Jeffrey Glanz].
• Making Learning Job-embedded: Cases from the Field of Instructional Leadership. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.

She is co-editing the Handbook of Educational Supervision (Wiley and Blackwell).

Dr. Zepeda has served in a variety of leadership roles that support the work of practitioners and scholars, including serving as network facilitator for the Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) and as the book review column editor for the Journal of Staff Development for 10 years. She chaired the American Educational Research Association’s Supervision and Instructional Leadership Special Interest Group (SIG). Dr. Zepeda also is a member of the Council of Professors of Instructional Supervision (COPIS), the learned society with limited membership. She reviews submissions for several scholarly journals and serves on editorial boards for several journals.

In 2005, the University Council of Educational Administration (UCEA) bestowed the inaugural Master Professor Award recognizing Dr. Zepeda’s work as a professor. In 2010, for her work in instructional supervision, she received the Russell H. Yeany, Jr., Research Award, which recognizes outstanding and cumulative research. In 2011, she was a recipient of the inaugural, Distinguished Research Mentor Award from the College of Education at the University of Georgia. In 2014, Dr. Zepeda (with her co-author) was awarded the Paula Silver Case Award in the Journal of Cases in Educational Leadership (Best Case in 2013) from the University Council of Educational Administration.

Dr. Zepeda has worked with many school systems in the United States and overseas, especially the Middle East, to support teacher and leader development. She has designed teacher and leader evaluation systems, instructional coaching programs, model system wide strategic plans as well as degree and academic programs.