UNC School of Education Clinical Associate Professor Kristin Papoi, Ph.D., has been awarded the Office of the Provost Engaged Scholarship Award for Engaged Teaching, one of Carolina’s annual Public Service Awards, for her continued work preparing Master of Arts in Teaching students for effective careers as classroom teachers through the Diverse and Resilient Educators Advised through Mentorship (DREAM) program and partnership with Durham Public Schools, and efforts to foster meaningful connections between the School and the wider Carolina community.
On Friday, April 5, the Carolina Center for Public Service presented the award at its 25th Public Service Awards ceremony at the Carolina Club in the George Watts Hill Alumni Center.
The annual award recognizes the exceptional commitment of UNC-Chapel Hill faculty members and organizations to public service and engaged scholarship, as well as their contributions in facilitating similar service efforts for the betterment of the people and communities they serve.
Papoi serves as the principal investigator for DREAM — a five-year teacher residency project in collaboration with Durham Public Schools (DPS), that works to recruit, educate, and place teachers from the School’s Master of Arts in Teaching program into high-needs schools in Durham.
DREAM, which is part of a $4.8 million grant funded by the U.S. Department of Education, aims to cultivate a teacher workforce dedicated to effectively serving diverse student populations, with a focus on providing highly responsive and committed educators, particularly in elementary and special education.
Papoi and collaborators in the School and at DPS offer a combination of mentorship and supports to empower DREAM residents throughout the yearlong MAT program, during their student teaching experience, and during their first three years as a beginning teacher in a DPS classrooms.
“The partnership between DPS and the DREAM team in the School of Education is the work of so many, which truly comes into focus when we step back and recognize the power of the DREAM teachers who have taken part in this program,” Papoi said. “Our 15 residents to date and our incoming 2024-25 DREAM cohort are prepared to be effective and resilient educators in Durham for many years to come.”
With extensive experience in K-12 teacher education, Papoi’s work focuses on elementary literacy, language learning, teacher education, arts integration, and the social context of learning. Her research specializes in qualitative research of literacy and language practices, teacher education reflective practices, and arts integration for multilingual learners. Currently, she explores how communities of practice among teachers contribute to retention and capacity building.
Before academia, Papoi taught elementary-aged multilingual learners in southeast Los Angeles, where she held school- and district-based leadership roles, and co-developed and trained teachers on the implementation of an AERA-award winning Model Unit of Study for English & Academic Language Development.
At Carolina, Papoi served for five years as program director in the School’s Master of Arts in Teaching Program prior to focusing on DREAM. Outside of the School, she serves as a faculty mentor for the Kessler Scholars program, which celebrates, connects, and supports the development of first-generation college students from rural North Carolina. She also provides relational leadership training through the UNC Office of Interprofessional Education and Practice.
In addition, Papoi is a member of the UNC Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute’s Languages and Literacy Working Group and serves on the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction’s Multilingual Learner Institutes of Higher Education Committee, working to increase inter-university collaboration to identify and address common goals for the betterment of teacher candidate preparation. This committee also engages with Educator Preparation Programs (EPPs) in North Carolina to enhance preparation of teachers by incorporating the learning needs of Multilingual Learners (MLs) and students in Dual Language/Immersion (DL/I) programs.
“This award fuels my commitment to the power of this collaborative work between schools of education and local district partners to improve educational outcomes for K-12 students by educating and retaining powerful teachers who reflect the communities in which they teach,” Papoi said. “DREAM serves as a model for potential future partnerships between the School and local districts to meet their context-specific needs.”
In a video featured at the Public Service Awards ceremony, Papoi expressed gratitude to the support of collaborators from UNC and DPS who have played a pivotal role in DREAM. She also dedicated the award to the past, present, and future DREAM cohorts.