Tammy Faith Martin graduated with her Doctorate of Education degree from South Carolina State University on May 4, after defending her dissertation topic entitled, An Examination of Principal Leadership Styles and Their Influence on School Performance as Measured by Adequate Yearly Progress At Selected Title I Elementary Schools in South Carolina on Feb. 29.

This latest degree is the fifth degree that Martin has earned over her 16 year career as an educator with 15 of those years being in the School District of Fairfield County. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Columbia College (1996); Master of Arts degree in Divergent Learning from Columbia College (2002); Master of Education in Educational Leadership from Winthrop University (2003); and an Educational Specialist degree from South Carolina State University (2008).

Martin attended the public schools of Fairfield County beginning at Geiger Elementary, Fairfield Middle, and graduated from Fairfield Central High School in 1992. She holds several certifications which include elementary education, middle level mathematics, secondary principal and supervisor, elementary principal and supervisor, and superintendent.

Martin is currently the principal at Fairfield Elementary School, the largest elementary school in Fairfield County. She began her teaching career at Fairfield Middle School in 1996 where she was a 7th grade math teacher. In 1999, she was named the District Teacher of the Year as well as Wal-Mart Teacher of the Year. She worked at Fairfield Middle School for seven years before being promoted to assistant principal at Fairfield Central High School. A

fter serving as an assistant principal for a year, she became the principal at Fairfield Middle School from 2004-2008. She also served as principal at Britton’s Neck Elementary School in Marion School District 7 before returning back home to Fairfield County in 2009.

She is an active member of the South Carolina Association of School Administrators, South Carolina Alliance of Black School Educators, as well as other education affiliations to include the South Carolina Education Association.

She completed the School Leadership Executive Institute Training held in Greensboro and Columbia over a two year period finishing in the summer of 2007.

Martin serves as a principal mentor through Winthrop University to aspiring principals by providing assistance to interns.

Martin believes that all students can learn and that high expectations are crucial to their success. She is a life-long learner and serves as an example to her students that they can achieve at high levels. She is passionate about facilitating innovative, best practices that are research-based to assist in the teaching and learning process.

Martin is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Marion W. Martin Jr. of Ridgeway. Her maternal grandparents are the late Mr. James and Amelia “Sister” Edger of Ridgeway, South Carolina and paternal grandparents are the late Mr. Marion and Hattie Bell Squirewell Martin of Simpson.