Doran Gresham 620 x 620

Dr. Doran Gresham

Assistant Professor, Special Education for Culturally & Linguistically Diverse Learners

Dr. Gresham’s primary research interest pertains to the overrepresentation of minorities in classrooms for students with special needs. To that end, he created "The Gresham Survey" to quantitatively assess the perceptions of general educators about the overrepresentation of elementary aged African American males identified as having an emotional disturbance. Since 2005, this tool has been modified so that it might also include the voices and opinions of administrators. The purpose of this research is to shed light on to this chronic institutionalized civil rights issue, which leads to systemic poor outcomes for students of color.

In 2015, Dr. Gresham published a collection of essays and interviews called Why the SUN Rises: the faces and stories of women in education. This interesting and vibrant work was co-written and edited by Dr. Gresham and helps to reveal why women in education return to work with and advocate for their students day after day.

Prior to joining the faculty of the George Washington University, Dr. Gresham worked for 5 years as a Master Educator and 1 year as a Senior Master Educator with the D.C. Public Schools system. In this capacity, Dr. Gresham and an elite group of content specialists from the IMPACT team evaluated and supported each teacher in the district using the Teaching and Learning Framework (TLF).

In 2004, 100 Black Men of Greater Washington, D.C. recognized Dr. Gresham as their Elliott Hair Man of the Year for his work in helping to create the Saturday Leadership Academy, which exists today as a group based mentoring platform that provides mentees with opportunities to form healthy connections with positive minority male professionals.

In 2015 the George Washington University recognized Dr. Gresham by presenting him with the Rita Ives Award, which is given to one person in the field of special education who has shown exemplary progress in advancing the lives of students with special needs.