The eSchool Information Ok-12 Hero Awards acknowledge the devoted efforts of schooling professionals throughout Ok-12 departments, together with IT, curriculum, instruction and administration.
Sponsored this 12 months by JAR Techniques and SAP Concur, this system acquired an inflow of inspiring nominations that spotlight the innovation and selflessness of educators in faculties 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!
Leap 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 Faculty District One, Steven Langford, Tiffany Brinkley, Twin Rivers Unified Faculty District.
Nominee: Jim Perry, Stapleton Faculty
Nominated by: EmpowerU, Inc.
Jim Perry got here to schooling as a second profession and has introduced such dedication and recent perspective to his workers, college students, and district at giant.
Jim needed to assist scholar 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 stage. As classroom lecturers led lecture rooms by way of turn-key classes and helped college students apply what they realized to their objectives 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 workers and college students. His enthusiasm for making a protected social emotional studying surroundings could be very admirable and his college students are so fortunate.
Jim is a vibrant a pacesetter 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 neighborhood and destroyed one of many district’s faculties, 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 enhance its forward-thinking imaginative and prescient, the district sought a blended curriculum resolution that supplied a full suite of digital assets accessible from a single platform. District leaders shaped the Jones Curriculum Council (JCC), a committee of lecturers tasked with researching and evaluating top-tier curriculum options. HMH’s related options scored highest on the JCC’s rubric. The district shaped a partnership with HMH—buying HMH Into Math, HMH Into Studying, HMH Into Literature, and Waggle packages, together with skilled providers, 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 related options {and professional} studying providers positioned the district properly to face the distinctive challenges introduced by COVID-19 and the 2020-2021 college 12 months. HMH’s blended curriculum enabled the district to navigate the shift to distant and hybrid higher than most districts.
Day by day in the course of the pandemic, Jones County educators supplied synchronous instruction to in-person and digital college students each day, a activity that may be tough, if not unattainable, with no genuinely digital-first resolution. Every class was recorded for folks to evaluation anytime, and in-person college students collaborated and engaged with their digital friends.
It was the progressive considering of JCPS management that set the district up for achievement. Following that preliminary resolution to give attention to digital and with the beginning of the pandemic and past, Jones County principals, lecturers, and college students all embraced “a brand new regular.” With HMH’s blended curriculum and information instruments, lecturers in Jones County have been in a position to streamline instruction and personalize studying for every scholar, with out having to buy further supplies or register on a number of platforms.
HMH and JCPS developed a protected plan to seize the Jones Nation expertise on video and spoke with some lecturers and college students utilizing HMH related options throughout COVID-19. The footage acquired was edited right into a collection movies demonstrating the facility and advantages of HMH’s digital-first, related options in a hybrid studying surroundings.
Nominee: Juliann Koehn, Epic Constitution Faculties
Nominated by: EmpowerU, Inc.
Epic Constitution Faculties presents on-line studying to greater than 30,000 college students within the state of Oklahoma. For years, the varsity had been trying to find 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 staff — and lecturers weary from different new packages and methods — EPIC wanted a companion it may belief to serve Tier 2 college students.
Juliann Koehn, Social and Emotional Studying Specialist at Epic, labored to deliver EmpowerU to the district and enrolled over 400 college students in this system in the course of the 2021-22 college 12 months.
Over 91 % of Epic college students who accomplished EmpowerU noticed a optimistic affect on well-being, educational engagement, and outcomes, and Juliann is dedicated to bringing those self same outcomes to as many college students as potential.
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 out to be extra assured, self-directed, and attain their objectives each out and in of the classroom.
Within the first few weeks of the 2022-23 college 12 months 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 most important non-public college community within the nation, with a sole mission to teach native Hawaiian kids.
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 carried out.
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 staff of three, which he refers to because the “3 Musketeers,” carried out SAP Concur in 2015 in an effort to drive efficiencies, management spending, and optimize visibility for a company with 4,000+ staff. Cory exudes an progressive and forward-thinking mindset in relation to doing the appropriate factor for the group. He embraces alternatives to make his staff 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 finest for them, not what’s best for adults. Offering entry to psychological well being care has been a precedence for Aurora Public Faculties’ AWARE Staff even earlier than the pandemic. Nonetheless, as districts nationwide skilled a scarcity of certified well being care professionals, the pandemic’s affect on college students’ psychological well being created an unprecedented have to develop entry to care rapidly. Primarily based 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 providers to align with Colorado state coverage. In Colorado, college students 12 or older don’t want consent from a mum or dad or guardian to entry psychological well being providers. Ms. Kaspar understood that college students won’t be snug getting permission to obtain the care they critically wanted and pushed Hazel to align its providers throughout the district accordingly.
To make sure the partnership’s success, Ms. Kaspar took the Hazel staff from college to high school throughout 30 websites to current to the workers chargeable for scholar care. She helped overcome objections and foster collaboration between the faculties and the Hazel staff. One facet of the partnership specifically that she highlighted was the flexibility for Hazel to transition scholar care to long-term suppliers as wanted. She mentioned, “I hate for youths with psychological well being challenges to inform their tales to totally different adults.” She values that Hazel makes the expertise seamless for college kids—whom she places first at each flip. Now, Hazel sees constant utilization of its providers throughout the district, primarily resulting from Ms. Kaspar’s efforts.
Nominee: Kirk Langer, Lincoln Public Faculties
Nominated by: Lightspeed Techniques
Kirk is chargeable for retaining the scholars and school of Lincoln Public Faculties related and engaged by way of expertise to make sure that studying isn’t disrupted. Kirk leads a staff of 65 consultants, and beneath his steering they’ve completed feats such because the procurement of three,680 model new MacBook Airs for licensed workers, and organizing intensive cybersecurity trainings for employees to maintain the district and its college students protected. His ardour and dedication to bettering his district by way of using expertise is commendable and makes him a worthy recipient of this award.
Nominee: Laura Johnson, Apex Studying Digital Faculty
Nominated by: Edmentum
Earlier than faculties shut down because of the world pandemic, most college students had little to no expertise with digital studying or on-line college. Many colleges discovered themselves having to adapt to a digital setting to outlive. As an authorized instructor by way of Edmentum’s Apex Studying Digital Faculty (ALVS), Laura Johnson is devoted to making sure each scholar thrives in a digital surroundings. The pandemic tasked her to fulfill 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 quite a lot of topics, together with social research, psychology, and music and artwork appreciation–all just about inside ALVS. She began as a part-time instructor whereas she was nonetheless at a brick-and-mortar college, the place she drove 38 miles every strategy to educate. Finally, Laura grew to become the primary full-time instructor with ALVS, and she or he now connects with college students everywhere in the globe.
Whereas ALVS has supplied 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 lecturers, Laura volunteered her experience and contributed immensely by stepping in to help with interviewing, hiring, and coaching 125 new part-time lecturers to fulfill the demand.
Laura was additionally closely concerned within the ALVS/Japanese Shore of Maryland Instructional Consortium partnership the place she and different educators supplied instruction to greater than 400 college students to fulfill 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 educating, and connecting with college students for the state. This program will proceed this 12 months with the identical group of motivated educators due to the profitable contributions of Laura.
Laura’s mantra for being a digital instructor is “it’s good to care.” Through 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 strategy to make connections with these college students. Via cellphone 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, which means what college students want to pay attention to 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 a substitute, they only needed to speak and have somebody take heed to them. As a mum or dad, Laura is aware of the worth of a instructor who actually cares about every particular person scholar and that’s precisely how she chooses to affect 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 Faculty
Nominated by: Epson
Mark Hess has served in quite a lot of roles since he was employed in 1993 by Walled Lake Consolidated Faculty District in Walled Lake, Michigan. Previous to COVID-19, Hess was the chief supervisor of instruction, expertise, and information evaluation and was one of many key builders of the district’s initiative to revamp its educational models to give attention to the newest analysis on high-yield educating methods, energy requirements, and embedding expertise in every unit. When everybody needed to shift to distant and hybrid studying in 2020, Hess’ initiative helped faculties and workers really feel well-prepared to make the transition as a result of many already had confidence when utilizing expertise and openness towards educational expertise. As well as, the district already had computer systems and doc cameras for lecturers, who took them dwelling to help in presenting content material throughout distant educating.
For the 2020-21 college 12 months, Hess’ district place was dissolved following new district management, so he returned to the varsity constructing because the principal of Mary Helen Visitor Elementary Faculty. As the varsity chief, Hess realized new methods to assist his lecturers with the ups and downs of the continually altering college 12 months. This included discovering alternatives to supply efficient and environment friendly skilled growth and encourage lecturers to share finest practices with one another. Moreover, investing within the best-in-class applied sciences has at all times been a precedence for Hess. This consists of Epson BrightLink Interactive Shows and Doc Cameras for each educating area. School rooms all through the district are outfitted equitably with expertise and have an satisfactory infrastructure lecturers want for participating studying environments.
The 2021-22 college 12 months introduced new alternatives for Hess because the elementary college was renovated over the summer time and each studying area was up to date to energetic studying environments. Hess ensured lecturers have been ready and knowledgeable about methods to make the most of their new lecture rooms. Academics have been very appreciative to have extra flexibility and are seeing a rise in scholar engagement and participation. Hess has led workers and lecturers to create a protected, motivating, and optimistic studying surroundings for college kids. Hess didn’t use the pandemic as an excuse to cease innovating and as a substitute, stayed inventive to make sure the most effective studying surroundings for each scholar.
Nominee: Michele Bledsoe, Puyallup Faculty 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 Faculty 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 essential. As a result of Puyallup is a various studying neighborhood, discovering a companion that might present culturally competent well being care was a prime 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 scholar within the Puyallup Faculty District had entry to well timed, high quality well being care no matter their household’s capacity to cowl the price of care. And she or he 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 scholar psychological healthcare was elementary to overcoming the impacts of the pandemic.
Because of her dedication, each scholar 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 makes a speciality of delivering culturally competent care, the professionals offering care mirror the district’s range, which suggests college students and households obtain care and assist from professionals who perceive and worth their experiences. Optimistic phrase of mouth from households with college students who’ve accessed care is driving the second-highest utilization price of providers out of all our partnerships nationwide. Additional, the partnership helped to develop the capability of overloaded workers devoted to supporting college students’ psychological well being.
Ms. Bledsoe rapidly understood that sustainability is important 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 neighborhood are positively impacted—however most significantly, college students now have entry to the care they should have their finest 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 Guide Creator staff. There are only a few lecturers on the market who regularly push the capabilities of our instrument like Mira does.
Her work is progressive and pushes boundaries–and she or he’s nice at sharing her information with others!
The story behind this nomination comes from a undertaking that Mira ran in the course of the pandemic. They began the undertaking within the classroom, switched seamlessly to distant studying after which completed the undertaking with an in-person celebration that melts the center!
This was a inventive writing undertaking that was differentiated for the assorted expertise, pursuits, and studying kinds of her college students, permitting each scholar to achieve success. Mira labored with the category instructor to introduce writing strategies, 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 Guide Creator.
Mira took benefit of the complete suite of instruments in Guide 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 deliver their tales to life. With real-time collaboration in Guide Creator, the lecturers have been in a position to communicate with college students and put up suggestions of their books.
In January 2021, while nonetheless in lockdown, Mira organized a category studying over Zoom. They invited the principals to affix, and the scholars acquired the fun of sharing their work with a wider viewers.
Mira then had college students use Flipgrid to file reflections on the guide creation course of–what they realized, methods they employed for writing, and a query for Debbie Ridpath Ohi (the writer 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 undertaking, however not Mira. Mira used the PDF export function in Guide Creator and labored with a neighborhood printing firm to print bodily copies of their books, which she introduced 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 the most effective factor we’ve ever seen Guide Creator used for.
Mira is a hero for a variety of causes:
1. She cares about her college students and goes out of her strategy to make initiatives that work for them on their very own particular person ranges.
2. She works collaboratively with the lecturers round her to get probably the most out of all people.
3. She generously shares what she has learnt with different lecturers.
4. She is aware of Guide Creator inside out and goes above and past in the way in which she makes use of it in her classroom.
5. She goes the additional mile to offer college students the most effective studying expertise they may hope for.
Nominee: Neal Kellogg, Oklahoma Metropolis Public Faculties
Nominated by: TutorMe
Initially an elementary college music instructor and website lead expertise educator, Neal Kellogg is the Director of Instructional Know-how Providers for Oklahoma Metropolis Public Faculties (OKCPS)—serving 34,000 Ok–12 college students throughout 33 elementary faculties, 12 center faculties, 8 excessive faculties, 4 various faculties, and 6 constitution faculties.
Beneath Neal’s course, expertise at OKCPS is evolving to a extra personalised, participating, and interactive expertise, specializing in private duty for self-directed skilled studying. A shy scholar in highschool, Neal credit the optimistic affect his band instructor had on him when he was rising up, which helps information him right now in his function.
Through the COVID-19 pandemic, Neal prioritized communication at first with college students, households, and lecturers 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 course the district went, together with ongoing modifications to higher assist college students.
In March 2020, Neal oversaw the district roll out a one-to-one machine program and implement a brand new studying administration system (LMS). Whereas these initiatives can take two years or extra to totally scale, the district’s program was up and working by August—simply in time for the 2020–2021 college 12 months. Throughout this time, Neal labored together with his staff to implement options to assist lecturers—together with TutorMe, an internet tutoring resolution–to supply college students extra educational assist and complement the work lecturers 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 period.
All through the pandemic, Neal’s assured and calm management impressed his teammates, whereas demonstrating pure management expertise. Neal’s management helped information his staff 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 lecturers’ 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 lecturers and a practice 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 educating the topic.
At this time, Scott finds himself because the expertise director of two districts in Kansas. Through the early days of the pandemic, Scott was conscious of speedy shortages of N95 masks for emergency care staff and sought out a strategy to assist. Via educating his college students 3D printing strategies, he realized he may use the printers to fabricate masks, so he and a colleague found a masks prototype to mannequin from a health care provider YouTube.
After studying of a hospital close by in Hoisington that had a scarcity of masks, Scott started creating masks with 5-6 printers working 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 outdoors 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 Faculty District
Nominated by: Bluum
Shawn Braxton is the Government Director of Studying Know-how and Coaching Providers for the Cleveland Metropolitan Faculty District. Shawn has been an integral a part of standardizing expertise throughout all 97 faculties throughout the district. Most just lately, he created a complete plan to position a Clevertouch interactive flat panel in each classroom that lacked one. Though this undertaking simply launched over the summer time, 1,081 Clevertouch panels have already been put in in lecture rooms that presently had solely projectors. By the tip of the 2022-23 college 12 months, each classroom could have an interactive flat panel. Shawn is continually investigating the way forward for classroom expertise and the way it may enhance scholar studying and classroom instruction.
Shawn additionally performed an unlimited function 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 neighborhood to go to considered one of two areas throughout the district and work together with the district’s new expertise. This occasion was additionally a chance for college kids to have interaction with educators outdoors of the classroom, construct pleasure across the upcoming college 12 months, and have their units mounted or changed.
Shawn is a visionary when it comes schooling expertise and the way it can change and form the minds of scholars. He’s a catalyst for his district and is continually on the innovative for brand spanking new and ingenious methods for college kids and lecturers to make the most of expertise within the classroom.
Nominee: Spartanburg Faculty District One
Nominated by: Promethean
Spartanburg Faculty District One spans three cities in rural upstate South Carolina, the place almost half of 5,000 college students come from lower-income households. This additionally means college students have restricted entry to expertise and units at dwelling. Moreover, lower than 22 % of residents within the district maintain a bachelor’s diploma or larger.
These mixed components have prompted the directors of Spartanburg Faculty District One to take motion to make sure college students are geared up for all times past highschool. To realize that objective, directors are tasked with exposing college students to computer systems and units and offering them with the instruments and expertise wanted to achieve success post-graduation. Nonetheless, whereas many college students have restricted assets, the district can also be tasked with using a restricted quantity of college funding, which is derived from taxes on companies throughout the district, whereas a lot of the native workforce commutes to bigger cities outdoors of the tax space.
This has prompted Spartanburg Faculty District One directors to get inventive and be strategic as to how funding is used so as to allow engagement and facilitate motion throughout the classroom. Dr. Jimmy Pryor, Assistant Superintendent, Accountability and Technical Providers at Spartanburg Faculty District One, decided an interactive panel would improve studying, facilitate mobility, and enhance engagement for college kids and concurrently streamline lesson supply for lecturers. To seek out the appropriate match, Dr. Pryor launched a pilot program the place educators examined quite a lot of interactive shows. Consequently, 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 college board rapidly gave the inexperienced mild to spend money on the brand new interactive panels. Inside the first six months of utilizing the ActivPanel, lecturers acknowledged the rise in scholar and instructor mobility and scholar engagement. Additionally they acknowledged the keenness the panels present for lecturers to ship high quality instruction and felt motivated to develop on their skilled growth to be taught extra concerning the ActivPanel’s capabilities.
With 4 blue ribbon faculties, 4 faculties awarded “Palmetto’s Most interesting” by the South Carolina Affiliation of Faculty Directors, and three statewide prime performing excessive faculties, directors are wanting ahead to delivering on the promise of post-graduation success for college kids, too. Directors district-wide anticipate seeing optimistic outcomes and enchancment because it pertains to state-mandated, end-of-course assessments, all of which contribute to college students’ progress and growth all through their Spartanburg tenure and past.
Nominee: Steven Langford, Beaverton Faculty District
Nominated by: Lightspeed Techniques
Steven Langford is the CIO of Beaverton Faculty District in Oregon and the President of CoSN, a extensively recognized and well-respected group throughout the Ok-12 edtech world. Beneath Steven’s steering, 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 implement new packages/methods/initiatives efficiently. Beaverton efficiently rolled out district-wide multi-factor authorization, which is an important element to cybersecurity, and one thing that’s not simply completed.
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 educating just about introduced 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 scholar expertise with digital studying by making private connections and accommodating college students’ wants. Consequently, she positively influenced scholar outcomes on high-stakes exams, all whereas mentoring new lecturers.
Our nominee, Tiffany Brinkley, has been an educator for 10 years, with 5 of these being in an internet setting by way of Edmentum’s EdOptions Academy. Tiffany has taught numerous math programs starting from sixth grade math by way of AP Calculus.
When a scholar enrolls in considered one of 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 scholar success. As an alternative of starting the dialog with lecturers, she asks about their summer time, 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 permit college students to really feel extra snug in a digital setting.
Though she had taught just about earlier than, Tiffany seen an elevated want for scholar engagement in the course of the pandemic as college students sought out assist and connection. Pre-pandemic, Tiffany knew there have been college students who wanted further assist, however now those that didn’t usually attain out earlier than have been requesting time to fulfill along with her. So, she determined she would make it simpler for college kids by permitting them to determine 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 higher join them.
In 2021, she made a huge effect on a undertaking working to higher put together college students for high-stakes state exams. Within the earlier 12 months earlier than Tiffany joined, this system didn’t have any college students go the maths examination. By delivering instruction throughout dwell Zoom classes and offering further assist with a examine program she helped to develop, Tiffany was in a position to elevate college students’ passing price from zero to fifteen % general on the state examination for Algebra 1.
Due to her stellar contributions, Tiffany was awarded Nationwide Trainer of the Yr from Edmentum in 2022. She was acknowledged for her efficiency as an educator and her dedication to being considered one of three mentors coaching and onboarding different math lecturers who have been employed to fulfill calls for in the course of the pandemic. Whereas serving to different educators navigate be an efficient instructor, 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 lecturers, Tiffany improved college students’ expertise in a digital setting, giving them the assets, alternatives, assist, and suppleness they wanted to adapt and overcome the adversity confronted in the course of the pandemic.
Nominee: Twin Rivers Unified Faculty District
Nominated by: EmpowerU, Inc.
Twin Rivers has been deliberately and strategically centered on rising educator and scholar psychological well being on a complete stage.
District leaders like Christine Flock and Travis Burke perceive the essential have to assist educator well-being as paramount to enhancing scholar engagement, motivation, and outcomes. Their considerate number of partnerships which might be collaborative drive them to create packages that transcend “test the field” options and lead to built-in packages that drive outcomes. They work throughout departments to totally leverage the facility and affect of the EmpowerU resolution, understanding how each bit matches collectively to drive complete youngster 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.
