Adriane Dorrington is a native of New Glasgow, Nova Scotia who now resides in Newport News, Virginia U.S.A. She holds a Bachelor of Schience and a bachelor of Education degree from St. Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, Nova Scotia; a Master of Education degree from the University of Alberta and a Doctorate of Education from the University of Toronto.
Dr. Dorrington is currently the Director for NASA/ Norfolk State Pre-Service Teacher Program, which is a unique national program that has been in existence for 10 years. The aim of the program is to provide prospective elementary and middle school Pre-Service teachers from under-served populations and their faculty members’ opportunities to enhance their knowledge and skill in teaching mathematics and science using appropriate technology. The program consists of two components: a 3-day national annual Pre-Service Teacher Conferences (PSTC) and ten two-week summer residential Pre-Service Teacher Institutes (PSTI) held across the nation.
Prior to this position, Dr. Dorrington was Chair of the now-defunct Education Department at Christopher Newport University (CNU), which had an enrolment of approximately 250 full-time students and served an even greater number of part time students. Dr. Dorrington is familiar with the various teaching standards and consciously models “best practices” that are grounded in research and are supported by National Boards for Professional Teaching Standards, Interstate New Teacher Assessment Support Consortium (INTASC), National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), and Educational Testing Service (ETS).
For the past six years, Dr. Dorrington has served as an Educational Testing Service (ETS) national trainer. She conductes training in various school districts and institutes of higher education in at least 25 states. As a trained facilitator for the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards she has given numerous workshops for local school districts on various topics. Including topics such as:
- “The Power of the Reflective Journal for Professional Growth in Teaching” co-authored S. Bryan, A.
Dorrington. The Teacher Educators Journal, 12(1) 29-35.
- “Improving Mathematics Achievement for At-risk Learners” co-authored S. Bryan, A. Dorrington. Phi Delta Kappa Educational Foundation Bloomington, Indiana, 2004.
- “Teacher Educators: A Minority Perspective on Preparing Majority Preservice Teachers for Diverse Classrooms.” Dorrington, Adriane E. L.; Ramirez-Smith, Christina (Eds.). ERIC Document Reproduction
Service No. ED 430 955 (1999).
- “Canada and United States: A Quest Towards World Class Science Standards.” in Ronald R. Sims (ed)
Accountability and Radical Change in Public organizations. Westport, Connecticut: Quorum Books.
(1998).
- “Standards-Based Science Instruction and Assessment Model” in Mary V. Bicouvaris, ed. Standards- Based Instruction and Assessment: A Model Approach. Needham Heights, MA: Simon & Schuster, 1998.
In addition to her specialization is curriculum and instruction, Dr. Dorrington’s most recent focus has been on induction and mentorship programs and working with service teachers to help them enhance their own practice. Dr. Dorrington is a former science teacher, science department head and science consultant for the Province of Nova Scotia. Her primary function as the provincial science consultant was to develop, implement, and monitor science curriculum from kindergarten through to grade 12. This involved overseeing numerous teacher committees and conducting curriculum workshops for teachers. As a provincial science consultant, she served on the National Advisory Committee that
developed the Canadian National Science Outcomes. Dr. Dorringtons extensive background in leadership development for educators and her expertise in the areas of developing professional development curriculum and institutes for teachers and educators makes her a strong asset for the Africentric Summer Institute on Leadership and Management for Educators.
