Dr. Kirby retired from the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County School System after serving for 35 years in public education as a school principal and assistant principal, curriculum coordinator, reading teacher and classroom teacher. Past and current board service includes Horizons Residential Care Center, ABC of NC (private school for students with autism), Forsyth Educator Partnership, IRB (Internal Review Board) of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, Smart Start of Forsyth County, WSSU Rehabilitation Studies Department, and the Carolina Chamber Symphony. Dr. Kirby is a graduate of Leadership Winston-Salem (Class of 2014), and sings with the Winston-Salem Symphony Chorale.

Degrees
  • PhD Educational Leadership, University of North Carolina, Greensboro
  • MA School Administration, Gardner-Webb University
  • MEd Language and Literacy, Salem College
  • BA Early Childhood Education, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Doctoral Thesis:

“Meeting Disability with Resiliency, Hope and Agency: A Narrative Study of Caregivers of Children with Cognitive and Physical Disabilities”

Research Interests:

Disability History, Advocacy, and Caregiving; K-12 Classroom-based Action Research; Narrative Case Studies of Disability; K-12 Classroom Assessment and Measurement; Literacy in the Primary Grades; Educational Leadership.

Personal Interests:
Reading, walking, yoga, singing, working crossword puzzles, and collecting antique alphabet blocks