Although it’s 3 a.m. in Minnesota, it’s noon in Kuwait, and Claire Shea, Ed.D., has already completed a half dozen meetings with parents and staff.
Dr. Shea is Head of School of American Creativity Academy, which educates 6,700 girls and boys in Pre-K through grade 12 across three campuses in 10 schools.
It takes a lot of communication — therefore a lot of meetings — to run the largest private school in Kuwait.
Dr. Shea first became acquainted with the De La Salle Christian Brothers after college. After obtaining degrees in theology and Spanish (and admittedly not knowing what to do with her degrees), she decided it made sense for her to teach. But she had no formal training.
She joined the Lasallian Association of New Catholic Educators (LANCE) with the Christian Brothers in Memphis, through which she began living in community with teachers, learning by association, and teaching in the inner city, while earning her master’s of education at night.
“And so it was like this kind of trifecta of all the elements coming together and realizing how much I loved education,” she said. “I realized it probably was something I was meant to do because I loved school for so long. I would teach without ever being paid. Now, being in leadership, it’s just kind of evolved because you get to make an impact more broadly.”
Dr. Shea’s career quickly evolved from teaching to administration. Her last position in the U.S. was serving as principal at Benilde-St. Margaret’s High School, St. Louis Park, Minn.
Then, in 2019, she and her family had an opportunity to move to Kuwait. “My husband and I are both educators,” she said. “I’ve always worked in private education, and my husband has mainly worked in public education. And early on when we first met, we wanted to teach abroad. And then when we got married and had kids, it felt so out of reach.”
But then, she said, they realized that the international education world is actually very accessible for families because it provides housing, transportation, and Visa assistance.
The two took a leap, which Dr. Shea describes as an adventure. A two-year contract has grown into their sixth year in Kuwait.
Another successful adventure came three years ago when Dr. Shea connected with former college classmate Dr. Michael Hahn, associate dean of education at Saint Mary’s.
From this discussion, a partnership between the American Creativity Academy and Saint Mary’s was formed, and Saint Mary’s began offering graduate education for teachers in Kuwait.
It started with the first international Ed.S. program in Educational Administration in Kuwait, the first of its kind, with a cohort of 10 teachers. And the success has continued to build from there.
The eighth cohort has recently started, and more than 150 individuals have been through the program, which includes the M.A. in Education, as well as the Ed.S. Additionally five students are currently in the Ed.D. program, and two students are doing their bachelor completion through Saint Mary’s (although not through the partnership).
“Saint Mary’s has been so incredible to work with,” Dr. Shea said. “In Kuwait we have censorship, for example. So we looked at how we teach teachers and leaders about working in an environment that doesn’t necessarily align with your personal goals, but aligns with your professional goals. And I think that exists in Minnesota too. Educators around the world are called to work in environments that align with their professional mission but not necessarily with their personal mission.”
Dr. Shea credits Saint Mary’s curriculum for being student-centered. “The majority of people who take these programs are in the classroom every day,” she said. “They’re on the front lines. And so Saint Mary’s is so focused on case studies and applicable situations and context. For example, nearly every single thing we do has an ethical dilemma to it, and so Saint
Mary’s provides those case studies to really dig deep, while also giving us a framework of having a mission and having values.” She explained that as an institution with Islamic values, it’s important to talk about Catholic values in a way that all students can relate. “So when I also think about the uniqueness of Saint Mary’s, it allows for Muslim students or leaders to engage in that same conversation about ethical dilemmas … ,” she said.
Dr. Shea also said she has been collecting data from teachers who go through the M.A. in Education program and looking at their MAP (Measure of Academic Progress) scores (a standardized test), comparing them before they were in the program and after. “We can collectively say that after having gone through the program, student growth rates accelerate,” she said. “I talk to parents about why this program is important for our staff. I see its effect on student test scores based on teachers going through the Master of Arts in Education program. To me, that’s a huge indicator of success in the program. And I see that teachers are engaging at a much higher level in our curriculum. So it’s like we’ve increased thought levels of teachers and staff, and we’ve increased achievement in students. And I think both of those things directly tie back to Saint Mary’s.”
Dr. Shea predicts the program will continue to grow.
“From the very first time we announced it, we had 65 teachers, American teachers, British teachers, South African teachers, the teachers teaching in Kuwait, say, ‘I wanna do the program’. And that said to me, we have a huge need. And I have never met an institution with members who just pulled up their chairs and started doing the hard work at the table with us. And so I don’t think this could have been successful at any other school in the same way that it was at Saint Mary’s.
“Saint Mary’s has become such a prominent name here, and it’s extraordinary for Saint Mary’s to be in Kuwait in a really instrumental and an impactful way.”