Dr. Samantha Chung

Scholar-Practitioner Transforming Schools Through Inclusive Leadership

Assistant Professor • Program Coordinator • Education Consultant

Building humanizing, culturally responsive, and language-inclusive environments where every learner thrives through equity-centered leadership and transformative practice.

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About Dr. Chung

Dr. Samantha Chung is an Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership at Lehman College (CUNY) and Program Coordinator for the School Building Leader program. Her research and practice explore how school leaders build humanizing, culturally responsive, and language-inclusive environments that center multilingual learners and marginalized communities.

A former NYC teacher and teacher educator, Dr. Chung bridges the gap between rigorous academic research and practical implementation. She partners with schools and districts to advance equity through inclusive leadership development, culturally responsive professional learning, and data-driven humanizing improvement strategies.

Assistant Professor & Program Coordinator

Ed Leadership, Lehman College, CUNY

Co-PI, LUTE-MULTI Grant

$8.4M U.S. DOE funding

PI, CUNY Bridge Grant

Leadership research (2025)

Founder, Empower-Ed

Education consulting practice

Research Focus

Dr. Chung's scholarship centers on transforming educational leadership to create more equitable and inclusive learning environments. Her research explores the intersections of leadership, race, language, and identity, examining how culturally responsive and humanizing practices can drive systemic change.

Inclusive Leadership

Culturally responsive leadership practices that center equity, disrupt systemic barriers, and create humanizing school environments for all students and families.

Multilingual Learner Programs

ENL/MLL program design, implementation, and continuous improvement through equity-centered frameworks and evidence-based strategies.

Professional Learning Systems

Coaching models and professional development that build teacher and leader capacity for culturally responsive and sustaining pedagogies.

Equity-Centered Inquiry

Data-driven decision making frameworks that prioritize humanizing practices and challenge deficit narratives about marginalized communities.

Publications – Available Now

Dr. Chung's published work examines inclusive leadership, co-teaching models for multilingual learners, and transformative professional development through international service learning partnerships.

Inclusive Leadership and Race

Routledge, 2025

Chapter co-authored with Sonya Douglass, Roy Danovitch, Anne LoBue, and Clark. Explores how educational leaders can disrupt systemic racism and build truly inclusive school cultures through intentional practice and policy transformation.

Routledge & CRC Press

Leadership for Increasingly Diverse Schools

The third edition of the best-selling Leadership for Increasingly Diverse Schools helps both practicing and aspiring school leaders deepen their knowledge, skills, and dispositions to create schools that best serve all students. This book helps readers sharpen their awareness of how students’ multiple dimensions of diversity intersect, as well as develop strategies for leading schools where students of all socioeconomic statuses, races, religions, gender and sexual identities, languages, and d

Co-Teaching to Support Project-Based Learning

Information Age Publishing, 2020

Published in Co-Teaching for English Learners: A Guide to Collaborative Planning, Instruction, Assessment, and Reflection. Provides practical frameworks for collaborative teaching models that support multilingual learners through authentic, project-based experiences.

Barnes & Noble

Co-Teaching for English Learners|Paperback

This edited volume examines co-teaching and integrated service delivery for English learners (ELs). Through research and documentary accounts, it explores the collaborative instructional cycle—co-planning, co-instruction, co-assessment, and reflection practices—of co-taught programs...

K-12 Black Studies as the Study of the World

Curriculum Development Project, 2024

A citywide PK–12 framework positioning Black Studies as the study of the world—linking global histories, race, language, and identity through culturally responsive curriculum design.

WeTeachNYC

Black Studies as the Study of the World: A PK-12 Black Studies Curriculum for New York City Public Schools - Full Curriculum PK-12 | WeTeachNYC

In a city as dynamic and diverse as New York, the student learning experience is enriched by the tapestry of cultural histories and perspectives that shape its neighborhoods and communities. As the first district-wide PK-12 …

Transformative Professional Development

Teacher Development, 2020

Examines how international service learning experiences create transformative professional learning opportunities for educators, fostering cultural competence and global perspectives on teaching practice.

Taylor & Francis

Transformative professional development for in-service teachers through international service learning

Teachers who participate in learning and teaching abroad enhance their intercultural competence, develop more globally informed and critical perspectives on education, and improve their foreign lan...

Publications – In Progress

Dr. Chung is advancing several research projects that challenge deficit narratives, center immigrant students and families, and develop equity-centered leadership frameworks for educational transformation.

1

Disrupting Curriculum Punishment

Faculty activism through immigration-focused syllabi revision. Forthcoming with Myers Education Press. Examines how teacher educators can disrupt exclusionary curriculum practices and center immigrant experiences in teacher preparation.

2

"Don't Put My Kid in A Box"

Under review with Urban Education. Explores how mothers of color resist reductive categorization and advocate for holistic, asset-based approaches to their children's education.

3

Developing Equity-Centered Decision Making

In preparation. Creates frameworks for educational leaders to make data-informed decisions that prioritize equity, challenge systemic inequities, and center marginalized student voices.

4

Integrating PD and Leadership Development

In preparation. Examines integrated professional development and leadership preparation models that specifically support recently arrived migrant students and their families.

Speaking & Workshops

Dr. Chung presents nationally on equity-centered leadership, culturally responsive practice, and transformative professional learning. Her sessions combine rigorous research with practical strategies that educators can implement immediately.

UCEA 2025

Strategies for Leaders Around Equity-Centered Critical Professional Development

UCEA 2025

Humanizing Leadership Preparation Programs

AERA 2025

Don't Put My Kid in A Box: Parent Resistance to Categorization

AERA 2024 Presidential Session

It's Time to Teach the Truth: Centering honest histories and marginalized narratives in curriculum design

BERC Summer Conference

Black Studies Curriculum Design: Creating culturally responsive and sustaining learning experiences

Empower-Ed Consulting

Leadership and Learning for Change

Empower-Ed partners with schools and districts to build sustainable capacity for inclusive, culturally responsive, and linguistically sustaining leadership. Through customized professional learning, coaching, and systems design, we help educational organizations transform their practices to better serve all students.

Leadership & Team Development

Build leadership capacity through equity-centered coaching, collaborative inquiry protocols, and distributed leadership models that empower educators at all levels.

Culturally Responsive PD

Professional learning experiences in culturally responsive teaching, Black Studies curriculum design, and anti-racist pedagogies that center student and community voices.

ENL/MLL Program Support

Comprehensive program design, implementation support, and continuous improvement for multilingual learner education, from co-teaching models to family engagement strategies.

Humanizing Data Inquiry

Equity-centered data systems and inquiry practices that challenge deficit narratives, prioritize student well-being, and drive meaningful instructional improvement.

Partner Schools, Districts & Organizations

Dr. Chung brings a wealth of experience in collaborating with diverse educational institutions, from large urban districts to individual charter schools. Her partnerships focus on co-creating sustainable solutions that enhance leadership, equity, and student outcomes through tailored professional learning, coaching, and strategic program development.

Peck Slip School P.S. 343

Welcome To <br/>P.S. 343

We’re thrilled to announce that we have our first 3K classroom!  If you are zoned for Peck Slip, and have…

Simon Baruch MS104

Simon Baruch Junior High School, MS104 Manhattan NYC

MS104 is a public middle school in Manhattan. Simon Baruch Middle School.

felixfesta.ccsd.edu

Home - Felix Festa Middle School

The virtual home of Felix Festa Middle School, part of the Clarkstown Central School District in Rockland, NY.

www.ccsd.edu

Home - Clarkstown Central School District

The virtual home of the Clarkstown Central School District, located in Rockland County, New York.

Teachers College - Columbia University

Edmund W. Gordon Institute for Advanced Study | Teachers College, Columbia University

Teachers College, Columbia University, is the first and largest graduate school of education in the United States, and also perennially ranked among the nation's best.

Teachers College - Columbia University

Black Education Research Center | Teachers College, Columbia University

Teachers College, Columbia University, is the first and largest graduate school of education in the United States, and also perennially ranked among the nation's best.

NYU Steinhardt

Metropolitan Center for Research on Equity and the Transformation of Schools | NYU Steinhardt

We commit to social justice and the amplification of youth, parents, and community voices

Lincoln Center Theater

Learning English and Drama Project | Lincoln Center Theater

A year-long collaboration between an LCT teaching artist and an ESL classroom teacher that promotes English language acquisition and learning in theater.

In the Media

Dr. Chung's work has been featured in national education publications, highlighting her innovative approaches to curriculum design, culturally responsive teaching, and educational equity. Her insights reach educators, policymakers, and community leaders nationwide.

American Theatre Magazine

2025

Feature exploring the intersection of arts education, inclusive leadership practices, and transformative learning experiences in schools and community theaters.

AMERICAN THEATRE

How Do You Teach the Arts in a City of 180 Languages?

At a convening earlier this year hosted by Lincoln Center Theater and the New York City Department of Education, tools and resources were offered for multilingual educators and learners.

Education Week

2024

"How These Teachers Build Curriculum Beyond Black History" — Spotlight on year-round approaches to culturally responsive curriculum that center Black experiences and histories.

Education Week

How These Teachers Build Curriculum 'Beyond Black History'

A pilot to infuse Black history and culture in social studies is gaining ground in New York.

Teachers College News

2024

"New Black Studies Curriculum Expands Access to Culturally Responsive Learning" — Coverage of innovative curriculum development expanding student access to affirming content.

Teachers College, Columbia University

New Black Studies Curriculum Expands Access to Culturally-Responsive Learning

The groundbreaking curriculum developed by TC’s Black Education Research Center through the Education Equity Action Plan initiative will be in NYC Schools PK-12 classrooms this fall.

Lehman College News

2024

$8.4M LUTE-MULTI Grant announcement expanding bilingual teacher and leader pipelines to transform education in the Bronx and beyond.

LehmanCollege

$8.4 Million Award Will Transform Teacher Education in The Bronx

Grants & Projects

Dr. Chung leads and contributes to multiple funded research projects advancing educational equity, multilingual learner support, and inclusive leadership development across New York City and beyond.

LUTE-MULTI Grant

U.S. Department of Education • $8.4M

Co-Principal Investigator on this transformative grant expanding bilingual teacher and leader preparation pipelines in the Bronx. The project creates sustainable pathways for diverse educators and strengthens culturally responsive leadership capacity.

CUNY Bridge Grant

Principal Investigator • 2025

Leading innovative research advancing leadership development practices and multilingual learner education through equity-centered inquiry and collaborative professional learning models.

Latinidad Curriculum Project

Collaborator with Dr. Regina Cortina

Partnering with Teachers College faculty to develop culturally affirming curriculum resources that center Latinx experiences, histories, and contributions across content areas.

Immigration-Focused Faculty Fellowship

CUNY-IIE • 2025

Developing pedagogical resources and faculty development materials that center immigrant student experiences and prepare educators to support recently arrived students and families.

Get in Touch

Whether you're interested in research collaboration, consulting services, speaking engagements, or learning more about educational leadership and equity work, Dr. Chung welcomes the opportunity to connect. Reach out to explore how we can work together to transform educational practice.

Contact Information

Email: samantha.chung@lehman.cuny.edu

dr.samchung@gmail.com

Connect: LinkedIn • Empower-Ed Consulting•Instagram •TikTok

Let's work together to build more inclusive, culturally responsive, and linguistically sustaining educational environments. The journey toward equity requires collaboration, courage, and commitment to transformative change.