How does Scotland help marginalized students? A Stamford Fulbright teacher has 6 months to find out.

By Ignacio Laguarda

STAMFORD — This New Year's Day will be a drastic departure for Ruth-Terry Walden.

That's because the veteran Westhill High School English teacher will be spending it in Scotland, the country she'll call home for the following six months.

Walden was recently selected as a recipient of the prestigious Fulbright Distinguished Awards in Teaching Research Program that will allow her to reside in Glasgow while conducting first-hand research through the University of Glasgow. 

She'll be studying the ways Scotland has utilized adult literacy and education programs, particularly for marginalized and immigrant populations.

"By educating parents, you give them the agency to effectively interact with governmental officials and entities such as school boards — and how does that foster achievement for their children?" Walden said at a meeting of the Stamford Board of Education's Labor Committee in September. "How does that strengthen their parental involvement? And how can those best practices that are being used in the UK, how can we transfer those to here in Stamford? Because our student demographic mirrors their student demographic."

Walden was before the Labor Committee to receive approval of a sabbatical leave to live in Scotland while she does her research. Her leave was approved, allowing her salary as she is away.

During the meeting, schools Superintendent Tamu Lucero congratulated Walden.

"This is a really distinguished award and not many people are selected. So to have someone from the Stamford Public Schools be selected I just think is a feather in all of our caps," Lucero said. 

Each year, the Fulbright distinguished teachers program sends educators from kindergarten to 12th grade from the United States to participating countries for a number of initiatives and research projects.

Other Stamford educators have been recipients of Fulbright scholarships and grants in the recent past.

In 2021, Toquam Magnet Elementary School English Language Learner teacher Mary Enright was selected for the Fulbright Distinguished Awards in Teaching Short Term Program to Uzbekistan.

This summer, Anchor teacher Jessica Bromberg-Alvarado will travel to the Philippines to provide training in project-based learning as part of the same Fulbright short term program.

During her time in Scotland, Walden will be visiting secondary schools and local school boards and councils across the country to learn how they prioritize inclusion of immigrant and marginalized students and parents.

"I'm excited to go to Scotland as an African American woman to talk about inclusiveness," she said in a phone interview this week.

Walden, who has taught at Westhill for about 20 years, has always incorporated Black history into her English/Language Arts classes.

Glasgow University has received Fulbright students and scholars in the past, but Walden is the first to come from the distinguished teacher program of the cultural exchange organization.

“I have no doubt that she’s going to bring back some wonderful information to share with both the adult (education) program and our regular program K-12,” Lucero said during the September meeting.

Ignacio Laguarda is a reporter who covers education and more for the Stamford Advocate.