Essence Allen-Presley, EdD
- Director of The Widener Child Development Center
- Adjunct Professor
- Education
- Social Justice
Programs I Teach
- Secondary Education (BA)
- Secondary Education (MEd)
- Elementary Education: The Early Years and Special Education (PK-12) (BA)
- Elementary Education: The Early Years (Pre-K-4) (MEd)
- Graduate Education Certificates
- PA State Education Certifications & Endorsements
- Special Education (MEd)
Education
- EdD, Education Leadership (2014)
St. Joseph's University (PA)
About Me
I believe the classroom culture should include innovative opportunities to create community through social justice values, respect, and equality for everyone. Teachers must include the students need and interest, their knowledge from personal experiences, interactions, opportunities to explore hands on activities, social-emotional regulation through positive behavior supports, and self-constructed inquiry and knowledge through questioning. This style allows children to evolve and gain education through their lenses and world views.
Professional Affiliations & Memberships
Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.
Black Child Development Institute
Community College of Philadelphia Education Program’s Advisory Board
Delaware Valley Association for the Education Young Children: ECE Fellowship
Kappa Delta Pi; International Honor’s Society for Teachers
Pennsylvania Key (PAKEY): Pennsylvania Keystone STARS Stakeholder Advisory Board Woman’s Veterans Rock, Inc. Civic Leadership Institute Master’s Class
NAEYC- National Association for the Education Young Children
Awards
2019, Continental Societies, Inc “2019 Essence of Woman” Award. Metropolitan Philadelphia Area Chapter
2019, PennNAEYC, “2019 Voice of Children” Award, Pennsylvania
News
Noteworthy
- Widener Professors and Alumni of Community Engaged Teacher Education Program Write Book Chapter
Widener University professors in the Center for Education’s Community Engaged Teacher Education (CETE) program collaborated to write Chapter 4 Shared Power in Teacher Preparation: University, School, and Community in a recently published book, titled The Power of Community-Engaged Teacher Preparation.
The chapter was written by Professor Nadine McHenry, who coordinates the CETE program, as well as Director of the Widener Child Development Center Essence Allen-Presley, Associate Professor Bretton Alvaré, retired Stetser Elementary Principal Janet Baldwin, alumna Rev. Hilda Campbell, and alumna Taylor Borgstrom.
The book focuses on how and why community-engaged teacher preparation is a vital approach to address an educational system that his historically deficient, discriminatory, and inequitable.