Lee Hunter

Contact Lee Hunter

843-349-2961 lhunter1@coastal.edu

PRIN 105C

Office Hours: Monday 1:30-4:30 p.m. By appointment via virtual by request.

"People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.  And what you do simply proves what you believe." -Simon Sinek

Dr. Lee T. Hunter has been a certified educator for 32 years working in public school districts in Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina.  She has served as a District Instructional Specialist, District-Level Grant Coordinator, Co-Director of NCMLE’s Schools to Watch, Principal, Assistant Principal, Curriculum Facilitator, PLC Facilitator, Gifted Education Specialist, Intervention Specialist, and Classroom Teacher.  Dr. Hunter is a former school-level Teacher of the Year as well as a top-three finalist for District Teacher of the Year.  She is currently licensed to teach students in grades K-6 and holds administrator’s licenses for grades K-12 in the Carolinas.  Dr. Hunter also holds certifications as a North Carolina Master Literacy Trainer and as a state-level Project CRISS Trainer.  Additional trainer certifications include the Ongoing Assessment Project (OGAP) for Additive Reasoning, Problem- and Project- Based Learning (certifications from Wake Forest University and the University of Texas at Dallas), Guided Fluency Practice and Assessment, Differentiated Instruction, Kagan Cooperative Learning, Co-Teaching, and Thinking Maps.

Dr. Hunter earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary education at Furman University.  She earned a master’s degree in Educational Leadership at High Point University and an education specialist’s degree (EdS) and a doctorate in Educational Leadership (EdD) with a concentration in Curriculum and Instruction at Wingate University.  She has spent over a decade conducting action research in urban, suburban, and rural districts and schools implementing highly effective continuous improvement processes including a powerful Professional Learning Communities (PLC) model that prioritizes job-embedded professional learning that yields significant student outcomes.

From 2018-2022, Dr. Hunter served as a District Instructional Specialist for the Charleston County School District in Charleston, SC.  From 2011-2018, she served as the Principal, Assistant Principal, and Curriculum Facilitator at Jones Intermediate School in the Mount Airy City Schools’ (MACS) system in Mount Airy, NC.  Dr. Hunter also served as the MAPSS Grant Coordinator for ten school districts in North Carolina.  Her primary function was to provide instructional support to 150 MAPSS’ teachers implementing Problem- and Project-Based Learning in their classrooms.  She also supported Beginning Teachers (BTs) and their mentors as the MACS’ BT Coordinator.  She worked closely with the Executive Director of Teaching and Learning to impact curricular and instructional policy and practice for the K-12 spectrum in her district. Dr. Hunter truly believes a laser-focus on continuous improvement protocols and practices as well as the effective implementation of evidence-based teaching and learning strategies, like Problem- and Project-Based Learning and STEAM, were the linchpins for the repeated high growth for five consecutive years in the MACS district.  In 2018, Dr. Hunter’s school, Jones Intermediate, ranked 3rd of all schools in North Carolina in terms of growth according to EVAAS data.  The unprecedented growth not only qualified the school for National Blue Ribbon School status but also garnered the coveted NCASCD Lighthouse Award for that year.

Dr. Hunter lives with her husband and children in Charleston, South Carolina. Dr. Hunter believes, as educators, it is our imperative to make a difference – to be the difference – in the lives of others.