Ed.D. Perspectives: Dr. Emily Buss McCord

Members of the Ed.D. program past and present share their thoughts, perspectives, and experiences. This issue, we learn about the work of Dr. Emily Buss McCord, academy director at the School of the Arts in the Rochester City School District.

Establishing Cultures of Care in Urban High Schools

Dr. Emily Buss McCord, academy director at the School of the Arts in the Rochester City School District, completed her doctoral studies in the Executive Leadership Program in 2024. She conducted her research on the perspectives of principals in high achieving urban high schools in New York State.

Buss McCord’s research has been accepted as a presentation at New York University Metro Center’s 2025 Equity Now Conference in New York City this May. With the theme, Welcoming, Affirming, and Healing Schools, the conference will showcase practical tools, research-backed strategies and practices, and policies for creating sustainable, equity-focused spaces.  The conference features a dynamic keynote address from educational luminary, Dr. Gloria Ladson-Billings.

At the conference, Buss McCord will deliver the presentation, Creating Cultures of Care in Urban High Schools, which will highlight the results of her dissertation research. After gathering information from principals of high achieving urban high schools, she developed research recommendations including creating structures for teacher leadership within schools; embedding student voice and leadership in the school’s culture; creating a well-defined series of practices, protocols, and professional learning to support school culture at the building level; and for superintendents and school boards to prioritize stability in building leadership to allow leaders time to develop capacity and culture in their schools. During the presentation, participants will identify attributes of high-performing urban high schools, outline practices and strategies that lead to cultures of care, and map out ways in which these principles can be enacted to support the culture and academic performance at their own schools.