Marcia A.B. Delcourt, Department of Education & Educational Psychology

Dr. Marcia Delcourt is the Coordinator for the Doctor of Education in Instructional Leadership Program at Western Connecticut State University (WCSU). She received her B.A. degree in Special Education from Bloomsburg State University, PA. She received an M.A. from the University of Connecticut (UCONN) in Special Education/Gifted Education and her PhD from UCONN’s Department of Educational Psychology, focusing on both gifted education and measurement and evaluation. She is a Professor in the Department of Education and Educational Psychology at Western Connecticut State University in Danbury, CT. She also serves as an educational and research consultant. From 1997-1999 she was an Associate Professor at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, CT and from 1993-1997 she was a Professor at McGill University where she taught courses in the Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology. She has also been an Assistant Professor at the University of Virginia (1988-1993) and a Principal Investigator for The National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented. Dr. Delcourt has been active in education for over 25 years as a teacher, graduate level program coordinator, curriculum and program consultant, program evaluator, and researcher. She received the Early Scholar Award for 1996 from the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) and is the Past Chair for the Division of Research and Evaluation of NAGC. In 2008, she received recognition as a Woman of Achievement from Western Connecticut’s Chapter of Phi Delta Kappa and received the Second Annual Excellence in Teaching Award from WCSU.

Dr. Delcourt has been a Principal Investigator (PI) or evaluator for 25 national or state grants. For example, she has been a PI for two Jacob K. Javits grants, The Learning Outcomes Study (Delcourt, M. A. B., Loyd, B. H., Cornell, D. G., & Goldberg, M. D, 1994) and the Qualitative follow-up to that study (Delcourt, M. A. B., & Evans, K., 1994), as well as the evaluator for Project C.U.E.: Creating Urban Excellence (Delcourt, 2000) (Javits grant), 21st Century grants (2003-2013), a Mentoring grant, and the Improving Schools Study (Chancellor’s Office for New York City Public Schools) (Center for Resource Management, 2002). She had also worked on the evaluation team studying restructuring efforts in Providence, RI, sponsored by the Carnegie Foundation and Brown University. She continues to work with colleagues in Canada on multiple inquiry projects. At the state level, she has also been a PI for a Title II grant and for 2 Teacher Quality Partnership grants, one in mathematics and one in science. As a professor, she advises doctoral candidates in their dissertation work, and was one of the authors/designers of the Doctor of Education in Instructional Leadership Program offered at Western Connecticut State University.

Her 70+ publications have appeared in journals such as Educational and Psychological Measurement, Gifted Child Quarterly, The Journal for the Education of the Gifted, International Journal of Creativity and Problem Solving, Roeper Review, and Journal of Research and Development in Education.  Her present research interests include developing inquiry in teachers and students, encouraging talent development, analyzing program development and assessment techniques, developing student learning outcomes, encouraging teachers as researchers, and assessing the impact of computer technologies.  She recently edited a book with colleagues from McGill University entitled Inquiry in education volume II: Overcoming barriers to successful implementation. She is presently working with educators and researchers through the government of India to identify and mentor children with high ability in mathematics and science.