Rate My Professor Shelley Zion

Shelley Zion, PhD, is a scholar in Education whose academic journey is deeply rooted at the University of Colorado Denver. She earned a B.A. from Regis University in Denver, Colorado in 1994, an M.S.S. from the University of Colorado Denver in 2001, and a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Innovation in 2007. Her dissertation, "Including Student Voice in School Reform," examined the role of student perspectives in educational change. At the University of Colorado Denver School of Education and Human Development, Dr. Zion held key administrative roles, including Executive Director of Continuing and Professional Education and Managing Director of the Center for Advancing Practice, Education, and Research (CAPER). She contributed to initiatives like the EDU program for teachers and moderated panels on educational equity. Currently, she serves as Professor of Urban Education in the Department of Educational Leadership and Research at Rowan University, where she teaches in PhD and EdD programs, mentors doctoral students, and directs three research labs: the Transformative Student Voice (TSV) Research Lab, Partnerships for Educational Equity and Research (PEER) Lab, and Critical Consciousness & Transformational Learning (CCTL) Research Lab.

Dr. Zion's research centers on school and community reform, sociopolitical development, critical pedagogy, equity, social justice, culturally responsive educational systems, and empowering marginalized youth through critical civic inquiry, youth participatory action research, and transformative student voice. Her scholarship has significantly impacted the field, with highly cited works such as "Addressing the disproportionate representation of culturally and linguistically diverse students in special education through culturally responsive educational systems" (Klingner et al., 2005; 692 citations), "Igniting the fire within marginalized youth: The role of critical civic inquiry in fostering ethnic identity and civic self-efficacy" (Hipolito-Delgado & Zion, 2017), "[Re]Conceptualizing Inclusion: Can Critical Race Theory and Interest Convergence Be Utilized to Achieve Inclusion and Equity for African American Students?" (Zion & Blanchett, 2011), and "Enacting a critical pedagogy, influencing teachers’ sociopolitical development" (Zion et al., 2015). In 2025, she co-authored two books with Harvard Education Press on transformative student voice research with Ben Kirshner. As principal investigator on grants like the Critical Civic Inquiry Student-Centered Learning grant, she coaches leaders, conducts trainings, and fosters partnerships to dismantle oppressive systems and promote equitable access in education.