Whitney Monroe

Doctor of Education in Professional Studies, Candidate

Greenwood, MS

Whitney Monroe (previously Christenson, aka “Ms.C”) is a lead teacher at a private school in Greenwood, Mississippi, as well as an Education Consultant for a new and growing company out of the JXN Metro area. Through her work as a policy fellow with Teach PLUS Mississippi and doctoral candidacy, Whitney has found her passion to be rooted in family investment in the classroom. Whitney’s career goal is to eradicate child exploitation and oppression through an entity linked to education, in order to create sustainable and equitable education systems.

This is Whitney’s second time as a TFA Graduate Fellow. As she finishes up her Ed.D she strives to publish two different texts: one for educators and the other for family and community members. Both aim to provide tips, tricks, statistics, and strategies that can assist in spheres of educational investment: family, school, and community partnerships. 

She has called Mississippi home since 2015, residing in Greenwood since 2016. She’s a mom to a spunky two-year-old boy and an Australian Shepherd. She likes to spend her free time cooking, crafting, and playing board games with friends.  

The purpose of Kaleidoscopes: A project to increase family involvement in the classroom, is a project that has taken many twists and turns in the past year. The overarching objectives remain focused on increasing family involvement in schools by utilizing Joyce Epstein’s Spheres of Influence Theory (2009): Parenting at home, volunteering, learning at home, bi-directional communication, decision making, and collaborating with the community.

problem: Elementary families will benefit from the research, events and incentives to encourage bi-directional access to investment in their child's education. This project seeks to address disparities among the six strands of family investment in their classrooms.

Fun Facts: Whitney’s first social venture happened at the age of 11. It was called Pennies for Paws.