The 2026–27 Teach Plus Policy Fellows Will Target Chronic Absenteeism and Advocate for Connected Data Systems to Drive College and Career Readiness
QUICK FACTS
Who: 25 pre-K through 12th-grade educators
Where: Arkansas Delta; Northeast, Central, and Southwest Arkansas; Mississippi Delta; Central, East Central, and the Gulf Coast
Focus Areas: Keeping students in school, connecting the data systems that track their progress, and building a college and career plan for every student
Mission: Increase college and career readiness, with a dedicated focus on rural and Delta communities.
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CLEVELAND, MS, August 12, 2026—Teach Plus Arkansas & Mississippi has named 25 teacher leaders to its 2026-27 Policy Fellowship, marking the inaugural cohort for the newly merged two-state region. Over the next year, these educators will work directly with the Arkansas and Mississippi departments of education and state policy leaders to bring classroom-tested solutions to a region where over 25% of public school students face chronic absenteeism, missing class time that follows them for years.
Selection into the Fellowship was highly competitive, with 130 applications for the 25 spots. The Fellows share a single mission: dramatically increasing the number of students who graduate truly ready for college and careers, with a dedicated focus on the rural and Delta communities where that work is most urgent. The Fellowship builds on each state’s own track record of educator-driven policy change, from Mississippi Fellows’ successful advocacy for a weighted student funding formula to Arkansas Fellows’ advocacy on early childhood education and teacher retention.
Teach Plus trains Policy Fellows in policy analysis, research, advocacy, and communications, including storytelling and op-ed writing, so rigorous data and firsthand classroom experience from educators reach decision makers and the public directly.
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Key policy focus areas:
- Chronic Absenteeism: Fellows will research which policies may actually reduce chronic absenteeism in the hardest-hit districts, including how other states track 9th grade on-track rates, an early sign of whether a student stays on pace to graduate.
- Data Systems: Fellows will push for data systems that measure progress as students transition from elementary school to secondary, and then to postsecondary institutions (ex. college, job training) before entering the workforce. The aim is to identify where preparation is falling short, including whether the K-12 system is laying the right groundwork for postsecondary success.
- Student Success Plans: Arkansas and Mississippi both require students to plan what comes after high school. Fellows will work to make sure those plans are real and guide decisions around course selection, actual access to career and technical education (CTE) programs, and direct ties to colleges and employers, so every student with a plan is also able to follow it successfully.
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Perspectives from Teach Plus leadership and educators:
“Teachers are trusted messengers when it comes to what our students need because nobody sees the daily reality of a classroom better than the person standing in it. By bringing together 25 teacher leaders from every corner of Arkansas and Mississippi for our first joint fellowship, we’re putting that firsthand experience with attendance, with the data systems meant to serve our kids, and with what it actually takes to get a student ready for what’s next directly into the hands of the people making policy. That’s how we open real pathways for students across both states.”—Sanford Johnson, Teach Plus Arkansas & Mississippi Executive Director
“Too many students in my district finish high school without finding postsecondary success because of a lack of preparation and exposure to their options. Proper preparation prevents poor performance. If we help students plan early and expose them to real pathways, we can change what happens after graduation.”—Aniyah Smith, 2026-2027 Teach Plus Arkansas & Mississippi Policy Fellow, 9th grade honors and on-level civics and economics teacher, Marion School District (Arkansas)
“If we start using students’ Individual Success Plans in middle school, it changes how we build CTE programs for them in high school. Students stay engaged in programs they actually want to be in and that engagement is exactly what helps with absenteeism.”—Alexis Reed, 2026-2027 Teach Plus Arkansas & Mississippi Policy Fellow, 10-12 grade educator preparation teacher, Yazoo City School District (Mississippi)
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Meet the Fellows:
Arkansas Delta
Crystal Barnes, Pine Bluff School District (Pine Bluff)
Mitzy Allen, Watson Chapel School District (Watson Chapel)
Shanta Calhoun, Pine Bluff School District (Pine Bluff)
Jessica Holmes, Stuttgart School District (Stuttgart)
Northeast Arkansas
Marcus Lewis, The Academies at Newport School District (Newport)
Reed Fogleman, Paragould School District (Paragould)
Eastern Arkansas
Carolyn Chrestman, Marion School District (Marion)
Aniyah Smith, Marion School District (Marion)
Brenda Wilson, West Memphis School District (West Memphis)
Southwest Arkansas
Chancy Ware, Senior Policy Fellow, Mineral Springs School District (Mineral Springs)
Yolanda Smith, Texarkana Arkansas School District (Texarkana)
Mississippi Delta
Alyssa Langlois, Senior Policy Fellow, Cleveland School District (Cleveland)
Alexis Reed, Yazoo City Municipal School District (Yazoo City)
Emily Harris, Yazoo County School District (Yazoo County)
Central Mississippi
Amber Barton, Smilow Collegiate (Jackson)
Felicia Dulaney, Jackson Public Schools (Jackson)
Latreal Hayden, MS School for the Deaf (Jackson)
Keyana Hawthorne, Senior Policy Fellow, Jackson Public Schools (Jackson)
Keely Jones, Jackson Public Schools (Jackson)
Hannah Bagwell, Executive Senior Policy Fellow, Rankin County School District (Rankin County)
Samanta Ramirez, Copiah County School District (Copiah County)
Veronica Wylie,Hazlehurst City School District (Hazlehurst)
East Central Mississippi
April Larkin, Lauderdale County School District (Meridian)
The Gulf Coast
Meredith Beal, Senior Policy Fellow, Long Beach School District (Long Beach)
Louise Smith,Pascagoula-Gautier School District (Pascagoula-Gautier)
ABOUT TEACH PLUS
The mission of Teach Plus is to empower excellent, experienced, and diverse teachers to take leadership over key policy and practice issues that affect their students’ success. In pursuing our mission, Teach Plus is guided by our Student Opportunity Mandate: To act boldly and create the conditions where every student can imagine their future—and experience an education that delivers the opportunity to realize it. Since 2009, Teach Plus has developed thousands of teacher leaders across the country to exercise their leadership in shaping education policy and improving teaching and learning for students. teachplus.org
