Don Doggett

Don Doggett is a Program Associate with SEDL's Education Systems Support (ESS) program. Mr. Doggett works with the Southeast Comprehensive Center (SECC) to build the capacity of state education agencies as they assist schools and districts. In this work, he leads efforts in needs-sensing, planning, and coordinating the delivery of technical assistance and professional development in South Carolina and assists in providing similar services to other states served through the SECC.

Mr. Doggett’s interests include leadership, school improvement, school turnaround, reading and literacy, data-driven decision-making, change process, professional learning communities, South Carolina Teacher Advancement Program System, afterschool, technology, and family and community engagement. His current doctoral work focuses on early literacy/early vocabulary development.

• Improving School Performance: Mr. Doggett has served as the principal of two underperforming schools in Beaufort County, South Carolina. To improve performance, he developed professional learning communities and implemented a balanced literacy approach to integrated instruction in all grades as well as the use of data to inform instructional decisions. Under his leadership, student achievement rose at Whale Branch Elementary School in Beaufort, which was named a Turnaround School and removed from the Palmetto Priority Schools list for the 2011–2012 school year.
• Leadership: Mr. Doggett has more than 10 years of experience as both a principal and an assistant principal at the elementary and middle school level. As an administrator, he has guided instruction, developed professional learning communities, planned and facilitated staff development opportunities, managed district and state testing programs, recruited and evaluated staff, created afterschool programs, and coordinated mentoring programs and community partnerships.
• Technology/Family and Community: Mr. Doggett has an extensive background in using technology to strengthen families and community-school partnerships. As a community outreach consultant for the Richland Clicks! Challenge Grant, he provided technology training to parents, the community, and students in Richland School District One, Columbia, South Carolina. In addition, he helped identify technology resources to support and enhance student learning and family well-being and expanded the district’s outreach opportunities by creating 50 additional technology centers.

Mr. Doggett joined SEDL in June 2012. He was previously the principal at Marshall Elementary School in Orangeburg, South Carolina. The largest elementary school in the district at the time, Marshall served more than 920 students, including students from three major public housing communities. From 2007 to 2011, Mr. Doggett served as principal of three underperforming South Carolina schools, one of which was designated a state Turnaround School under his leadership for increased student achievement. In addition, Mr. Doggett has 7 years of experience as an assistant principal and 4 years of experience teaching at the elementary and middle school level. He has also worked as a community outreach technology consultant for a school district, as an assistant director of a GEAR UP program, and as a tutor for the PASS Program providing weekly instruction for students at a local homeless shelter.

Mr. Doggett holds a BA in elementary education and an MEd in counseling and guidance from Howard University. He is currently working on a doctorate in educational administration at South Carolina State University. In addition, he is a certified K–8 teacher and a SAFE-T/TEAM/ADEPT/TAP evaluator and holds an endorsement for elementary principal and elementary supervisor in South Carolina.