story by Claire Miller
Virginia O’Reilly’s (M.S. ’23) first few years teaching kindergarten were eventful, to say the least.
In her first year, the COVID-19 pandemic hit and she had to transition to virtual learning. In her third year of teaching, she became chair of her grade level and learned firsthand how to provide support for both new and returning teachers.
She also had several conversations with a colleague who worked as a school psychologist and created Individualized Education Programs (IEP) for students who need additional help meeting academic goals.
These experiences – coupled with the class she took in her undergraduate education program on learning theories – sparked an interest in educational psychology, and how conducting research in this field could make a difference for teachers and students.
“I wanted to understand more about the theories and research that go into the decisions made in school systems,” she said. “I wanted to have a change in my life and pivot toward addressing the problems I was seeing in the field.”
O’Reilly applied to the College of Education & Human Development’s educational psychology master’s program and after speaking with some of the program faculty, she knew the program was right for her.
“Associate Professor Sarah Carlson reached out to set up a meeting with me. She and Clinical Associate Professor Namisi Chilungu said they’d read my application, they wanted to know more about me and they wanted to make sure the program fit my goals,” she said. “I talked to them during my lunch break at school – we only had 20 minutes to talk and after our conversation, this program just felt right.”
That level of support O’Reilly experienced during the application process continued throughout the program. She worked as a graduate research assistant with Carlson conducting reading comprehension research and formed a strong bond with several master’s and doctoral students in her educational psychology classes.
The program also helped her further develop her critical thinking skills and better understand published research in the field.
“It challenged me to think deeper about what I was reading, rather than just regurgitating what’s been said,” she said. “It’s about being a creative thinker and having space to critically think about what you’re learning.”
O’Reilly graduated in December 2023 and accepted a job with Atlanta Legal Aid, an organization that provides free civil legal aid for people in low-income communities in metro Atlanta. Currently, she’s using court data, census data and interviews with community partners and staff to highlight areas of need and to identify education gaps in their materials.
This fall, she’ll return to Georgia State University for the doctoral program in educational psychology while still working at Atlanta Legal Aid.
O’Reilly is looking forward to continuing her community-focused work while working with program faculty to better understand how theories of learning, culture, development and behavior can be applied to educational settings.
“I feel like the luckiest girl in the world right now,” she said. “I get to do something challenging, thought-provoking and helpful to people in the community, and I get to keep learning with the support of these awesome professors who have been my cheerleaders.”
For more information, visit the educational psychology master's program page and the doctoral program page.