Melvina Phillips, Ed.D

Melvina gained expertise in adolescent literacy while working as instructional leader at Discovery Middle School of Madison, Alabama. Together with staff members, she designed a literacy initiative from the latest research and from best literacy practices in the field. While working with the National Association of Secondary School Principals, she provided workshops and other literacy leadership opportunities to support school leaders across the nation. During her years spent in the field, Melvina has noted a dramatic increase in literacy focus at the middle and high school level – a change from the prior notion that literacy was mainly in the realm of elementary schools. Now, she notes, while there is still much work to be done to embed literacy into instructional practices, educators understand that literacy must be at the center of all school improvement planning efforts and that literacy instructional practices encourage learning of the more complex content students get in middle and high school.

As a member of the PCG Education team, Melvina’s education experiences have provided the opportunity to support efforts of the Nashville and Charlotte PCG Education staffs to map current RtI practices in Memphis City Schools and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools to inform the development of EDplan™, PCG Education’s RtI management system. She also provides literacy leadership support for state, district, and school leadership teams.

• Adolescent Literacy,
• Response to Intervention (RtI),
• School Leadership,
• Systemic School Change

Melvina has been actively engaged with education since 1970. During her career, she has served as classroom teacher, district coordinator, school administrator, NASSP Literacy and Professional Development Practitioner, and PCG Senior Associate. Her rich educational experiences provided the opportunity to work with other educators to plan innovative approaches for development of programs that have resulted in increased student performance and achievement. Twice, programs she coordinated were recognized by the U. S. Department of Education as Exemplary Programs, and while administrator at Discovery Middle, the school was selected as an Alabama Reading Initiative Literacy Demonstration site. She received proclamations for innovative educational programs from two governors of the state of Alabama.

Melvina’s personal interest and pride in her heritage and commitment to education led to opportunities to serve as a consultant to various organizations, including the American Indian Museum, Early Works Museum, Burritt Museum, and DAR. She was honored to serve as Alabama’s delegate to the White House Conference on Indian Education in 1990.

Books

Irvin, J. Meltzer, J., Mickler, J., Phillips, M. & Dean, N. (2008). Meeting the challenge of adolescent literacy: Practical ideas for literacy leaders. International Reading Association: Newark, DE

Phillips, M. (2005). Creating a culture of literacy: A guide for middle and high school principals. National Association of Secondary School Principals: Reston, VA.

Articles

Meltzer, J. & Phillips, M. (2008). Designing effective content-literacy professional development. In Perspective by Project AdLIT-Advancing Adolescent Literacy Instruction Together
(http://www.ohiorc.org/adlit) by The Ohio Resource Center. All rights reserved.

 

   To learn more about Melvina Phillips or other PCG Education Subject Matter Experts, contact us at
   pcgeducation@publicconsultinggroup.com or 1-800-210-6113.