Inspiring educational leaders through hard work, Diamond Bar High School AP Language and Composition teacher and ELD co-coordinator Trina Dreyer recently earned her doctorate degree from Azusa Pacific University. Her dissertation titled ‘Educational Leaders’, showed the perceptions of education with neuroscience, to improve teaching from leaders overall. 

In order to complete her doctorate, Dreyer wrote a dissertation and took three years worth of courses. Her dissertation’s topic included information on how to expand on knowledge on educational neuroscience, analyzing how the brain works best to understand how students learn. The essay encompassed the bridging of the two fields of education and neuroscience, the hope being to improve the educational system and allow awareness from others.

“I felt very very happy for everything to be done since it was so much work,” Dreyer said. “It’s one of those things where the classes have homework and presentations-but I was also writing my dissertation so I had to be very self motivated to get that done and meet my deadlines.”

The dissertation must be presented to the committee of judges, answering the various research questions selected by them. The paper must supply what your research will be about as well as the committee’s decision to approve the information or not. When approved, the writer must go through another round of reviews to examine the paper’s ethical quality. 

“I really wanted to find out in what ways the brain learns best,” Dreyer said. “I interviewed educational leaders, basically getting to interview principals, superintendents of school districts, and directors.” 

The journey over the years was quite strenuous due to the amount of research needed. This included interviewing educational leaders such as principals, superintendents and directors across the United States to know more about how other leaders teach kids. 

“I think it makes you more inquisitive and questions things,” Dreyer said. “I think when you go through the research process it really makes you learn and think since now there are so many things to research.”