The eSchool Information Ok-12 Hero Awards acknowledge the devoted efforts of training professionals throughout Ok-12 departments, together with IT, curriculum, instruction and administration.
Sponsored this yr by JAR Methods and SAP Concur, this system obtained an inflow of inspiring nominations that spotlight the innovation and selflessness of educators in colleges and districts throughout the nation.
Listed right here is the second group of this system’s finalists. The primary group of finalists was featured on eSchool Information final week–discover them right here!
Soar to: Jim Perry, Jones County Public Faculties, Juliann Koehn, Cory Matsumiya, Kim Kaspar, Kirk Langer, Laura Johnson, Mark Hess, Michele Bledsoe, Mira Campbell, Neal Kellogg, Scott Mitchum, Shawn Braxton, Spartanburg College District One, Steven Langford, Tiffany Brinkley, Twin Rivers Unified College District.
Nominee: Jim Perry, Stapleton College
Nominated by: EmpowerU, Inc.
Jim Perry got here to training as a second profession and has introduced such dedication and contemporary perspective to his employees, college students, and district at giant.
Jim wished to help pupil well-being and resilience within the face of the disruption and set-back in social-emotional studying that COVID created. Jim embraced EmpowerU instantly. He took the self-regulation and resilience framework and adopted it at a school-wide degree. As classroom academics led school rooms via turn-key classes and helped college students apply what they discovered to their targets and challenges, Jim took it even additional by having assemblies to showcase the learnings taking place in every classroom.
He believes in EmpowerU a lot that he helped to current to the bigger Baldwin County Public Faculties district on the advantages and main modifications that he’s seeing in his employees and college students. His enthusiasm for making a protected social emotional studying setting could be very admirable and his college students are so fortunate.
Jim is a vibrant a frontrunner like Jim Perry, and Stapleton is flourishing beneath his management. We love Jim Perry!
Nominee: Jones County Public Faculties
Nominated by: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH)
Jones County Public Faculties: Ahead-Pondering Ok-12 Heroes of the Pandemic
Jones County Public Faculties in North Carolina has a novel pandemic story. It began in September 2018. After Hurricane Florence devastated the group and destroyed one of many district’s colleges, Jones County Public Faculties got down to rebuild its college infrastructure, which now features a brand-new, high-tech, solar-powered Ok-12 campus. To enrich its forward-thinking imaginative and prescient, the district sought a blended curriculum resolution that supplied a full suite of digital sources accessible from a single platform. District leaders fashioned the Jones Curriculum Council (JCC), a committee of academics tasked with researching and evaluating top-tier curriculum options. HMH’s linked options scored highest on the JCC’s rubric. The district fashioned a partnership with HMH—buying HMH Into Math, HMH Into Studying, HMH Into Literature, and Waggle packages, together with skilled companies, that are all accessed by way of Ed, HMH’s studying platform.
As Jones County leaders will inform you, this dynamic, one-stop-shop of linked options {and professional} studying companies positioned the district nicely to face the distinctive challenges offered by COVID-19 and the 2020-2021 college yr. HMH’s blended curriculum enabled the district to navigate the shift to distant and hybrid higher than most districts.
Every single day throughout the pandemic, Jones County educators offered synchronous instruction to in-person and digital college students each day, a activity that may be tough, if not inconceivable, and not using a genuinely digital-first resolution. Every class was recorded for fogeys to evaluation anytime, and in-person college students collaborated and engaged with their digital friends.
It was the modern considering of JCPS management that set the district up for achievement. Following that preliminary resolution to concentrate on digital and with the beginning of the pandemic and past, Jones County principals, academics, and college students all embraced “a brand new regular.” With HMH’s blended curriculum and knowledge instruments, academics in Jones County have been capable of streamline instruction and personalize studying for every pupil, with out having to buy additional supplies or sign up on a number of platforms.
HMH and JCPS developed a protected plan to seize the Jones Nation expertise on video and spoke with some academics and college students utilizing HMH linked options throughout COVID-19. The footage acquired was edited right into a collection movies demonstrating the facility and advantages of HMH’s digital-first, linked options in a hybrid studying setting.
Nominee: Juliann Koehn, Epic Constitution Faculties
Nominated by: EmpowerU, Inc.
Epic Constitution Faculties gives on-line studying to greater than 30,000 college students within the state of Oklahoma. For years, the college had been looking for methods to reverse the sample of disengagement, construct motivation to finish schoolwork and get college students over that end line at commencement.
With no college counseling workforce — and academics weary from different new packages and programs — EPIC wanted a associate it may belief to serve Tier 2 college students.
Juliann Koehn, Social and Emotional Studying Specialist at Epic, labored to carry EmpowerU to the district and enrolled over 400 college students in this system throughout the 2021-22 college yr.
Over 91 % of Epic college students who accomplished EmpowerU noticed a constructive impression on well-being, tutorial engagement, and outcomes, and Juliann is dedicated to bringing those self same outcomes to as many college students as doable.
Juliann is keen about the necessity to equip college students with the instruments to achieve success and sees the potential in every of them. She works tirelessly to teach others concerning the significance of packages like EmpowerU to assist college students turn into extra assured, self-directed, and attain their targets each out and in of the classroom.
Within the first few weeks of the 2022-23 college yr Juliann has rolled out EmpowerU to over 550 Epic college students and counting!
Nominee: Cory Matsumiya, Kamehameha Faculties
Nominated by: SAP Concur
Kamehameha Faculties, headquartered in Honolulu, HI, is the biggest non-public college community within the nation, with a sole mission to teach native Hawaiian youngsters.
Cory Matsumiya, Assistant Controller, has been with Kamehameha Faculties for 15 years. Cory was the unique “proprietor” of SAP Concur and the first champion for getting the answer applied.
It’s with nice pleasure that SAP Concur nominates Kamehameha Faculties and Cory Matsumiya for the eSchool Information Ok-12 Hero Awards.
Cory, a part of a workforce of three, which he refers to because the “3 Musketeers,” applied SAP Concur in 2015 in an effort to drive efficiencies, management spending, and optimize visibility for a company with 4,000+ workers. Cory exudes an modern and forward-thinking mindset with regards to doing the precise factor for the group. He embraces alternatives to make his workforce extra environment friendly by automating and streamlining processes, is at all times keen to seek out methods to enhance present processes, and is greater than keen to share his experiences with others to assist them do higher. We’re grateful for our partnership with Cory and Kamehameha Faculties!
Nominee: Kim Kaspar, MSW, Aurora Public Faculties’ AWARE Program
Nominated by: Hazel Well being
Hazel Well being (Hazel) nominates Kim Kaspar in honor of her dedication to making sure her college students obtain care primarily based on what’s greatest for them, not what’s best for adults. Offering entry to psychological well being care has been a precedence for Aurora Public Faculties’ AWARE Workforce even earlier than the pandemic. Nonetheless, as districts nationwide skilled a scarcity of certified well being care professionals, the pandemic’s impression on college students’ psychological well being created an unprecedented must develop entry to care rapidly. Based mostly on this want, Aurora Public Faculties was within the implementation stage when the Director of Psychological Well being and Counseling unexpectedly needed to take a depart of absence.
Understanding the significance of increasing care within the wake of the pandemic, Ms. Kaspar stepped as much as transfer the work ahead. Ms. Kasapar not solely ensured the partnership was profitable however pushed Hazel to innovate its companies to align with Colorado state coverage. In Colorado, college students 12 or older don’t want consent from a father or mother or guardian to entry psychological well being companies. Ms. Kaspar understood that college students may not be comfy getting permission to obtain the care they critically wanted and pushed Hazel to align its companies throughout the district accordingly.
To make sure the partnership’s success, Ms. Kaspar took the Hazel workforce from college to high school throughout 30 websites to current to the employees answerable for pupil care. She helped overcome objections and foster collaboration between the colleges and the Hazel workforce. One side of the partnership specifically that she highlighted was the flexibility for Hazel to transition pupil care to long-term suppliers as wanted. She mentioned, “I hate for youths with psychological well being challenges to inform their tales to completely different adults.” She values that Hazel makes the expertise seamless for college students—whom she places first at each flip. Now, Hazel sees constant utilization of its companies throughout the district, primarily on account of Ms. Kaspar’s efforts.
Nominee: Kirk Langer, Lincoln Public Faculties
Nominated by: Lightspeed Methods
Kirk is answerable for holding the scholars and college of Lincoln Public Faculties linked and engaged via expertise to make sure that studying isn’t disrupted. Kirk leads a workforce of 65 specialists, and beneath his steerage they’ve achieved feats such because the procurement of three,680 model new MacBook Airs for licensed employees, and organizing in depth cybersecurity trainings for employees to maintain the district and its college students protected. His ardour and dedication to bettering his district via using expertise is commendable and makes him a worthy recipient of this award.
Nominee: Laura Johnson, Apex Studying Digital College
Nominated by: Edmentum
Earlier than colleges shut down because of the world pandemic, most college students had little to no expertise with digital studying or on-line college. Many faculties discovered themselves having to adapt to a digital setting to outlive. As a licensed trainer via Edmentum’s Apex Studying Digital College (ALVS), Laura Johnson is devoted to making sure each pupil thrives in a digital setting. The pandemic tasked her to satisfy an inflow of scholars who confronted new units of challenges, whereas sustaining excessive requirements and serving to college students deal with new studying environments.
For 14 years, Laura Johnson has taught a wide range of topics, together with social research, psychology, and music and artwork appreciation–all just about inside ALVS. She began as a part-time trainer whereas she was nonetheless at a brick-and-mortar college, the place she drove 38 miles every technique to train. Ultimately, Laura grew to become the primary full-time trainer with ALVS, and she or he now connects with college students all around the globe.
Whereas ALVS has offered rigorous and fascinating on-line curriculum to college students in grades 6-12 for a few years, the pandemic made ALVS see a sudden inflow of 5,000 new digital college students. As one of many college’s skilled academics, Laura volunteered her experience and contributed immensely by stepping in to help with interviewing, hiring, and coaching 125 new part-time academics to satisfy the demand.
Laura was additionally closely concerned within the ALVS/Japanese Shore of Maryland Academic Consortium partnership the place she and different educators offered instruction to greater than 400 college students to satisfy state requirements, and ensured classes complied with administration’s outlines. She supported getting this new grant program off the bottom, delivering high quality digital instruction and modeling new methods of instructing, and connecting with college students for the state. This program will proceed this yr with the identical group of motivated educators because of the profitable contributions of Laura.
Laura’s mantra for being a digital trainer is “it’s essential to care.” In the course of the pandemic, she confronted new challenges, equivalent to college students being reluctantly thrust right into a digital program out of necessity, and never out of motivation or alternative. Nonetheless, Laura went out of her technique to make connections with these college students. By telephone calls that allowed her to get to know them and uncover what motivates them, she took the additional steps like offering individualized suggestions on assessments and checking not only for completion, however for understanding. For all assignments, Laura responds with affirmative suggestions with “glow or develop” info, that means what college students want to concentrate on for future assignments or shares what they did nice.
Laura shared that some college students who joined her workplace hours or who reached out to schedule time to talk along with her didn’t actually need assistance academically; as an alternative, they simply wished to speak and have somebody take heed to them. As a father or mother, Laura is aware of the worth of a trainer who really cares about every particular person pupil and that’s precisely how she chooses to impression college students’ lives and academic journeys—by making these connections, whether or not college students are 38 miles or 1,038 miles away.
Nominee: Mark Hess, Mary Helen Visitor Elementary College
Nominated by: Epson
Mark Hess has served in a wide range of roles since he was employed in 1993 by Walled Lake Consolidated College District in Walled Lake, Michigan. Previous to COVID-19, Hess was the manager supervisor of instruction, expertise, and knowledge evaluation and was one of many key builders of the district’s initiative to revamp its tutorial items to concentrate on the newest analysis on high-yield instructing methods, energy requirements, and embedding expertise in every unit. When everybody needed to shift to distant and hybrid studying in 2020, Hess’ initiative helped colleges and employees really feel well-prepared to make the transition as a result of many already had confidence when utilizing expertise and openness towards tutorial expertise. As well as, the district already had computer systems and doc cameras for academics, who took them dwelling to help in presenting content material throughout distant instructing.
For the 2020-21 college yr, Hess’ district place was dissolved following new district management, so he returned to the college constructing because the principal of Mary Helen Visitor Elementary College. As the college chief, Hess discovered new methods to help his academics with the ups and downs of the consistently altering college yr. This included discovering alternatives to supply efficient and environment friendly skilled improvement and encourage academics to share greatest practices with one another. Moreover, investing within the best-in-class applied sciences has at all times been a precedence for Hess. This contains Epson BrightLink Interactive Shows and Doc Cameras for each instructing house. Lecture rooms all through the district are outfitted equitably with expertise and have an sufficient infrastructure academics want for partaking studying environments.
The 2021-22 college yr offered new alternatives for Hess because the elementary college was renovated over the summer season and each studying house was up to date to energetic studying environments. Hess ensured academics have been ready and knowledgeable about methods to make the most of their new school rooms. Lecturers have been very appreciative to have extra flexibility and are seeing a rise in pupil engagement and participation. Hess has led employees and academics to create a protected, motivating, and constructive studying setting for college students. Hess didn’t use the pandemic as an excuse to cease innovating and as an alternative, stayed artistic to make sure one of the best studying setting for each pupil.
Nominee: Michele Bledsoe, Puyallup College District
Nominated by: Hazel Well being
Hazel Well being (Hazel) nominates Michele Bledsoe in honor of her deep understanding of the youth well being disaster and her capacity to construct the cross-functional buy-in that ensures her college students have equitable entry to psychological well being care. Earlier than the pandemic, the Puyallup College District was experiencing capability challenges in assembly the wants of its college students when it got here to offering well timed psychological well being care. The pandemic exacerbated these challenges making the requirement extra vital. As a result of Puyallup is a various studying group, discovering a associate that would present culturally competent well being care was a high precedence.
Ms. Bledsoe, director of Fairness & Social Emotional Wellness, Ok-12 Counselors, MV and Truancy, had the imaginative and prescient to be an early adopter of Hazel. She believed in a world the place each pupil within the Puyallup College District had entry to well timed, high quality well being care no matter their household’s capacity to cowl the price of care. And he or she put within the work to make it a actuality. Ms. Bledsoe did the deep analysis required of a trailblazer to get buy-in from her board and groups throughout the district. She additionally had the foresight to grasp that leveraging ESSER funds to develop entry to pupil psychological healthcare was elementary to overcoming the impacts of the pandemic.
Because of her dedication, each pupil within the district—greater than 22,000—now has entry to evidence-based psychological well being care. College students can obtain care in class or at dwelling in minutes to days versus the nationwide common of months. Since Hazel focuses on delivering culturally competent care, the professionals offering care replicate the district’s variety, which implies college students and households obtain care and help from professionals who perceive and worth their experiences. Constructive phrase of mouth from households with college students who’ve accessed care is driving the second-highest utilization charge of companies out of all our partnerships nationwide. Additional, the partnership helped to develop the capability of overloaded employees devoted to supporting college students’ psychological well being.
Ms. Bledsoe rapidly understood that sustainability is crucial and laid the groundwork early for transitioning the work to extra sustainable funding sources to make sure college students all through the district can proceed to entry high quality healthcare as soon as ESSER funding runs out. Because of Ms. Bledsoe, stakeholders throughout the Puyallup studying group are positively impacted—however most significantly, college students now have entry to the care they should have their greatest alternative to thrive.
Nominee: Mira Campbell, FH Miller Jr. PS
Nominated by: Instruments for Faculties, Inc.
Mira Campbell has taken on legendary standing amongst the E book Creator workforce. There are only a few academics on the market who frequently push the capabilities of our software like Mira does.
Her work is modern and pushes boundaries–and she or he’s nice at sharing her data with others!
The story behind this nomination comes from a mission that Mira ran throughout the pandemic. They began the mission within the classroom, switched seamlessly to distant studying after which completed the mission with an in-person celebration that melts the guts!
This was a artistic writing mission that was differentiated for the assorted expertise, pursuits, and studying types of her college students, permitting each pupil to achieve success. Mira labored with the category trainer to introduce writing methods, after which used a writing immediate to generate story concepts. After brainstorming concepts collectively, they drafted tales in Google Docs earlier than creating absolutely fleshed multimedia publications in E book Creator.
Mira took benefit of the total suite of instruments in E book Creator to permit college students to create within the media that labored for them–some youngsters dictated their books utilizing speech to textual content; others used drawing and emojis to carry their tales to life. With real-time collaboration in E book Creator, the academics have been capable of be in contact with college students and publish suggestions of their books.
In January 2021, while nonetheless in lockdown, Mira organized a category studying over Zoom. They invited the principals to hitch, and the scholars received the fun of sharing their work with a wider viewers.
Mira then had college students use Flipgrid to document reflections on the guide creation course of–what they discovered, methods they employed for writing, and a query for Debbie Ridpath Ohi (the creator of the writing immediate). These video reflections have been embedded on the finish of their books. What’s extra, Mira reached out to Debbie and she or he gave her personal suggestions on the books and answered the questions!
At this level, most individuals would wrap up the mission, however not Mira. Mira used the PDF export function in E book Creator and labored with an area printing firm to print bodily copies of their books, which she offered to college students in a giant reveal as soon as they have been again within the classroom! The video she put collectively of that second could also be one of the best factor we’ve ever seen E book Creator used for.
Mira is a hero for plenty of causes:
1. She cares about her college students and goes out of her technique to make initiatives that work for them on their very own particular person ranges.
2. She works collaboratively with the academics round her to get essentially the most out of all people.
3. She generously shares what she has learnt with different academics.
4. She is aware of E book Creator inside out and goes above and past in the best way she makes use of it in her classroom.
5. She goes the additional mile to offer college students one of the best studying expertise they may hope for.
Nominee: Neal Kellogg, Oklahoma Metropolis Public Faculties
Nominated by: TutorMe
Initially an elementary college music trainer and web site lead expertise educator, Neal Kellogg is the Director of Academic Know-how Providers for Oklahoma Metropolis Public Faculties (OKCPS)—serving 34,000 Ok–12 college students throughout 33 elementary colleges, 12 center colleges, 8 excessive colleges, 4 different colleges, and 6 constitution colleges.
Beneath Neal’s route, expertise at OKCPS is evolving to a extra customized, partaking, and interactive expertise, specializing in private accountability for self-directed skilled studying. A shy pupil in highschool, Neal credit the constructive impression his band trainer had on him when he was rising up, which helps information him right now in his position.
In the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, Neal prioritized communication before everything with college students, households, and academics at OKCPS—the second-largest district in Oklahoma—to make sure studying continued. The pandemic pushed OKCPS to maneuver fast, making it essential the district stored everybody knowledgeable concerning the route the district went, together with ongoing modifications to raised help college students.
In March 2020, Neal oversaw the district roll out a one-to-one system program and implement a brand new studying administration system (LMS). Whereas these initiatives can take two years or extra to completely scale, the district’s program was up and operating by August—simply in time for the 2020–2021 college yr. Throughout this time, Neal labored together with his workforce to implement options to assist academics—together with TutorMe, an internet tutoring resolution–to offer college students further tutorial help and complement the work academics have been already doing. Neal labored with different leaders all through the district to assist OKCPS undertake, modernize, and transfer ahead in a brief time frame.
All through the pandemic, Neal’s assured and calm management impressed his teammates, whereas demonstrating pure management expertise. Neal’s management helped information his workforce and stored heads above water. All through all of the change, Neal additionally fostered a wholesome work-life stability all through the district—recognizing the significance of supporting academics’ psychological well being.
Nominee: Scott Mitchum, USD 112 Central Plains
Nominated by: Bluum
USD 112 Central Plains Know-how Director Scott Mitchum hails from a household of academics and a convention of serving to folks. All through childhood, Scott had a ardour for studying, studying, and devouring encyclopedias.
Accepting a golf scholarship to attend school, Scott briefly studied regulation earlier than receiving a grasp’s diploma in library science. After serving as a librarian for 26 years, Scott taught himself laptop programming earlier than finally accepting a place at two junior faculties instructing the topic.
At the moment, Scott finds himself because the expertise director of two districts in Kansas. In the course of the early days of the pandemic, Scott was conscious of rapid shortages of N95 masks for emergency care employees and sought out a technique to assist. By instructing his college students 3D printing methods, he realized he may use the printers to fabricate masks, so he and a colleague found a masks prototype to mannequin from a physician YouTube.
After studying of a hospital close by in Hoisington that had a scarcity of masks, Scott started creating masks with 5-6 printers operating 24/7, switching out polylactic acid (PLA) in the course of the evening. Every masks took seven hours to print.
He continued to tweak the printers to incorporate climate stripping across the exterior to make it air-tight and a HEPA filter from a vacuum cleaner. Scott produced roughly 140 masks and 100 face shields that have been used primarily for surgical procedure. Regardless that the hospital supplied to pay him, he politely declined.
Nominee: Shawn Braxton, Cleveland Metropolitan College District
Nominated by: Bluum
Shawn Braxton is the Govt Director of Studying Know-how and Coaching Providers for the Cleveland Metropolitan College District. Shawn has been an integral a part of standardizing expertise throughout all 97 colleges throughout the district. Most not too long ago, he created a complete plan to position a Clevertouch interactive flat panel in each classroom that lacked one. Though this mission simply launched over the summer season, 1,081 Clevertouch panels have already been put in in school rooms that at present had solely projectors. By the top of the 2022-23 college yr, each classroom can have an interactive flat panel. Shawn is consistently investigating the way forward for classroom expertise and the way it may enhance pupil studying and classroom instruction.
Shawn additionally performed an unlimited position within the creation of the district’s first-ever Tech Fest. Tech Fest was a two-day occasion in August that allowed college students, dad and mom, and the group to go to one in all two places throughout the district and work together with the district’s new expertise. This occasion was additionally a chance for college students to have interaction with educators exterior of the classroom, construct pleasure across the upcoming college yr, and have their gadgets mounted or changed.
Shawn is a visionary when it comes training expertise and the way it can change and form the minds of scholars. He’s a catalyst for his district and is consistently on the innovative for brand new and creative methods for college students and academics to make the most of expertise within the classroom.
Nominee: Spartanburg College District One
Nominated by: Promethean
Spartanburg College District One spans three cities in rural upstate South Carolina, the place practically half of 5,000 college students come from lower-income households. This additionally means college students have restricted entry to expertise and gadgets at dwelling. Moreover, lower than 22 % of residents within the district maintain a bachelor’s diploma or greater.
These mixed components have prompted the directors of Spartanburg College District One to take motion to make sure college students are geared up for all times past highschool. To realize that aim, directors are tasked with exposing college students to computer systems and gadgets and offering them with the instruments and expertise wanted to achieve success post-graduation. Nonetheless, whereas many college students have restricted sources, the district can be tasked with using a restricted quantity of faculty funding, which is derived from taxes on companies throughout the district, whereas a lot of the native workforce commutes to bigger cities exterior of the tax space.
This has prompted Spartanburg College District One directors to get artistic and be strategic as to how funding is used to be able to allow engagement and facilitate motion throughout the classroom. Dr. Jimmy Pryor, Assistant Superintendent, Accountability and Technical Providers at Spartanburg College District One, decided an interactive panel would improve studying, facilitate mobility, and improve engagement for college students and concurrently streamline lesson supply for academics. To search out the precise match, Dr. Pryor launched a pilot program the place educators examined a wide range of interactive shows. Because of this, Promethean’s ActivPanel was not solely the popular selection however a straightforward selection for educators.
It didn’t take a lot convincing for Dr. Pryor to safe an ActivPanel for each classroom inside Spartanburg One. The superintendent and faculty board rapidly gave the inexperienced mild to put money into the brand new interactive panels. Throughout the first six months of utilizing the ActivPanel, academics acknowledged the rise in pupil and trainer mobility and pupil engagement. In addition they acknowledged the passion the panels present for academics to ship high quality instruction and felt motivated to develop on their skilled improvement to study extra concerning the ActivPanel’s capabilities.
With 4 blue ribbon colleges, 4 colleges awarded “Palmetto’s Best” by the South Carolina Affiliation of College Directors, and three statewide high performing excessive colleges, directors are trying ahead to delivering on the promise of post-graduation success for college students, too. Directors district-wide anticipate seeing constructive outcomes and enchancment because it pertains to state-mandated, end-of-course exams, all of which contribute to college students’ development and improvement all through their Spartanburg tenure and past.
Nominee: Steven Langford, Beaverton College District
Nominated by: Lightspeed Methods
Steven Langford is the CIO of Beaverton College District in Oregon and the President of CoSN, a extensively identified and well-respected group throughout the Ok-12 edtech world. Beneath Steven’s steerage, Beaverton has created a path of innovation and enchancment for different districts to observe.
Along with this, Steven gladly shares his recommendation and knowledge on the right way to implement new packages/programs/initiatives efficiently. Beaverton efficiently rolled out district-wide multi-factor authorization, which is a vital element to cybersecurity, and one thing that isn’t simply achieved.
Steven’s continued method to innovation within the expertise division in his district is inspirational and makes him a worthy recipient of this award.
Nominee: Tiffany Brinkley, EdOptions Academy
Nominated by: Edmentum
For a lot of educators, making the swap to instructing just about offered challenges. Connecting with college students just about was new to many educators and required an untapped talent set. At a time when human connection was restricted however wanted, Tiffany Brinkley improved the general pupil expertise with digital studying by making private connections and accommodating college students’ wants. Because of this, she positively influenced pupil outcomes on high-stakes exams, all whereas mentoring new academics.
Our nominee, Tiffany Brinkley, has been an educator for 10 years, with 5 of these being in an internet setting via Edmentum’s EdOptions Academy. Tiffany has taught numerous math programs starting from sixth grade math via AP Calculus.
When a pupil enrolls in one in all Tiffany’s courses, she at all times first reaches out to make a private connection as a result of she is aware of that is the important thing to pupil success. As an alternative of starting the dialog with teachers, she asks about their summer season, pursuits, or hobbies. To proceed to maintain college students concerned and engaged, she sends out month-to-month questionnaires on enjoyable matters. These questions and her curiosity of their solutions enable college students to really feel extra comfy in a digital setting.
Though she had taught just about earlier than, Tiffany observed an elevated want for pupil engagement throughout the pandemic as college students sought out assist and connection. Pre-pandemic, Tiffany knew there have been college students who wanted additional help, however now those that didn’t usually attain out earlier than have been requesting time to satisfy along with her. So, she determined she would make it simpler for college students by permitting them to resolve their assembly time along with her, somewhat than adhering to a typical set of workplace hours. She finds this flexibility useful for her college students and it permits her to raised join them.
In 2021, she made a big impact on a mission working to raised put together college students for high-stakes state exams. Within the earlier yr earlier than Tiffany joined, this system didn’t have any college students go the mathematics examination. By delivering instruction throughout stay Zoom classes and offering additional help with a research program she helped to develop, Tiffany was capable of elevate college students’ passing charge from zero to fifteen % general on the state examination for Algebra 1.
Due to her stellar contributions, Tiffany was awarded Nationwide Trainer of the 12 months from Edmentum in 2022. She was acknowledged for her efficiency as an educator and her dedication to being one in all three mentors coaching and onboarding different math academics who have been employed to satisfy calls for throughout the pandemic. Whereas serving to different educators navigate the right way to be an efficient trainer, Tiffany was described as “the glue that holds us all collectively” as a result of it doesn’t matter what challenges come up, she rapidly and calmly finds an answer.
By constructing connections with college students and her fellow EOA academics, Tiffany improved college students’ expertise in a digital setting, giving them the sources, alternatives, help, and suppleness they wanted to adapt and overcome the adversity confronted throughout the pandemic.
Nominee: Twin Rivers Unified College District
Nominated by: EmpowerU, Inc.
Twin Rivers has been deliberately and strategically centered on rising educator and pupil psychological well being on a complete degree.
District leaders like Christine Flock and Travis Burke perceive the vital must help educator well-being as paramount to bettering pupil engagement, motivation, and outcomes. Their considerate collection of partnerships which can be collaborative drive them to create packages that transcend “examine the field” options and end in built-in packages that drive outcomes. They work throughout departments to completely leverage the facility and impression of the EmpowerU resolution, understanding how each bit matches collectively to drive complete baby success.
Laura Ascione is the Editorial Director at eSchool Media. She is a graduate of the College of Maryland’s prestigious Philip Merrill Faculty of Journalism.