A New York principal’s next step

During her nine years as principal of Blue Point Avenue Elementary on New York’s Long Island, Tara Falasco GS’26 has watched student behavior change. “I’d go home and ask, ‘What am I missing? What am I not doing? How can I help these kids?’” she says.

The signs of student anxiety were increasingly difficult to ignore. Frustrated and concerned teachers were regularly visiting her office. The school nurses saw an increase in stomachaches and headaches. Task-avoidance was a daily occurrence for many of Falasco’s elementary students. 

Falasco dug into the research about the effects of COVID-19, which reframed her beliefs about student behavior and anxiety, and eventually published a National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP) article with her findings. Understanding that behavior is often a signal, not just a problem, changed everything for her school—from professional development to the school day schedule. 

When graduate learning meets daily leadership

Rising student anxiety is just one of many challenges through which Falasco guides her team. As principal, she responds to complex challenges every day. 

Pursuing an Ed.D. in K-12 Administration through Bethel from New York has given Falasco a way to connect daily leadership decisions with deeper questions about school culture, educator support, and what students need from adults right now.

“I’ve always wanted to get my doctorate—it’s been a personal goal of mine for a long time. I love going to school, and I wanted to continue that lifelong learning,” Falasco says of her decision to apply for Bethel’s online doctorate program in 2023 while still leading her school.  

For some New Yorkers, Minnesota might feel like a world away, but for Falasco it was the next logical step in her professional journey in educational leadership. 

Falasco was already active in the NAESP and passionate about mentorship, so she decided to complete the NAESP’s National Principal Mentor Certification and learned that it fulfilled three doctoral-level semester credits at Bethel.

Learning that the certification could count toward a long-held goal made Bethel especially practical, but it wasn’t the only reason Falasco confidently took the next step.

“I spoke with Tracy Reimer, and she’s really one of the main reasons that I knew Bethel was right for me,” Falasco says, recalling her first interaction with the Ed.D. in K-12 Administration program director. The two met over a video call after Falasco emailed Reimer to share her interest in Bethel’s program. 

“She asked what I was passionate about, and we spoke for half an hour about women in leadership. I was so comfortable with her, and I remember thinking, ‘This is where I’m meant to be,’” Falasco says. “When I spoke with people who were in Bethel’s Ed.D. program, I just felt good about it.” Reimer later served as Falasco’s advisor during her three years in the program, bringing their relationship full circle.

Through the program, her doctoral work was not removed from the realities of leading an elementary school; it gave her language, research, and reflection for the leadership questions already in front of her.

Falasco could identify qualitative evidence of student anxiety, but she wanted measurable data as well. “With learning, curriculum, and instruction, you have test scores and tangible results to analyze, but social-emotional data is harder to see and collect,” she says.

Falasco says Bethel’s doctorate program was instrumental in helping her gain these skills as an educational leader. “I learned a lot about data. Quantitative data had always scared me, but I learned how to collect it, analyze it properly, and use it directly in my building,” she says.

Visits to the nurse’s office and school social workers became data points Falasco could track and analyze as the school adopted a more responsive, less reactive approach. 

Blue Point Avenue Elementary began incorporating restorative circles—structured group conversations focused on listening and sharing—and Falasco revised the schedule to give students a weekly 40-minute period to pause and reset emotionally.  

“Every Friday, during eighth period, we stop everything,” she says. “There are no specials or lessons. The time is used to guide students through restorative circle questions, or student choice opportunities like coloring or running around in the gym. Students have gotten really good at recognizing what they need.”

But it took time, Falasco says, and significant professional development with teachers. Students had to learn that what they wanted in the moment—like joining friends in the gym—wasn’t always what helped them reset.

Because of Bethel’s flexible, online graduate program, Falasco could make these changes in real time. She didn’t have to step away from her school community to grow as a leader. Instead, Bethel met her where she was and connected her with educators across a broader professional community.

Why distance learning doesn’t mean doing it alone at Bethel 

Falasco admits she assumed a fully online graduate program would feel disconnected—that she’d do her work and get her diploma without developing relationships that matter. Her experience proved her wrong. 

“Bethel’s doctorate program is made for people who are working full time or have big jobs, because you can do your work late at night or during your lunch break,” Falasco says. But with a flexible program, human connection becomes vitally important, too.

“You would think because the program is online that you might not hear from people when you have a question,” she says. “But I have to say, everyone—from the registration team to professors—was easy to talk to and answered questions quickly.”

Falasco says the program helps students build relationships within their cohorts as they progress through courses. 

Early in the program, students get to know one another through discussion forums. “You start to notice what peers are saying and thinking in their responses, which gives you an opportunity to assess who you want to work with for your research peer feedback,” she says.

Falasco’s dissertation centered on women in educational leadership. “Once the research started, we connected live with peers and professors for feedback,” Falasco says. “That’s when I really started to get to know people—not just by name, but through their work, their topics, and the way they were thinking.”

Through these peer groups, Falasco found more than just classmates—she found friendship. “One of my peer group members has become a very close friend of mine. We still talk every day,” she says. Her friend, Jen Ivers, is pursuing the doctorate and an administrative license from Bethel.

“I met her in person for the first time when I went to my graduation ceremony at Bethel in Minnesota,” Falasco says. This fall, Ivers plans to shadow Falasco at her school to complete her administrative hours.

The friendship has given Falasco the camaraderie she hadn’t expected from an online program—and the opportunity to mentor a future woman principal, a passion at the center of her work.

Your professional network matters

Falasco’s learning didn’t stay in an online classroom or forum. It was immediately relevant and pushed her to meet other professionals.

She had opportunities to earn credit for professional learning she was already pursuing, including attending a conference and reflecting on what she learned there. For one directed study, she also worked with an advisor to shape her learning around women in leadership, a topic that would later become central to her dissertation. “I liked the directed study aspect of the program,” she says. “You truly can make graduate school your own because you can focus quickly on what you’re passionate about.”

With insight on women in leadership from professors like Stacie Stanley, Falasco returned to the New York State Association for Women in Administration and her local principal association, ready to lead new programming and book studies.

Her commitment to mentoring women grew from her own experience as a new principal with little support. At times, the work felt lonely. But it also clarified the kind of leader she wanted to become: one who helps other women recognize their potential, pursue leadership, and find the support she once wished she had.

Bethel helped Falasco connect that personal passion to research, mentorship, and a wider professional network. She continues to speak at conferences and workshops across the nation, and this fall, she has been invited to present her dissertation at the University of New Mexico Mentoring Institute. Along the way, she found faculty and friends who cared about the same questions she was asking.

“I think finding women who are passionate about the same topics was easy at Bethel,” she says. “And that was very helpful.”

Take the next step in your career

Grow as a leader with Bethel’s Ed.D. programs and make a lasting difference by transforming students, colleagues, and communities.

Ed.D. in K-12 Administration Ed.D. in Higher Education Leadership