Cohort Will Address Supports for Early Career Teachers and Systems of Accountability and Assistance for Emerging Bilingual Students Among Other Priorities
Sacramento, CA -Teach Plus California has selected 25 outstanding teachers as Fellows of its 2018-19 Teaching Policy Fellowship cohort. As Teach Plus Fellows, the teachers take part in a specially-designed course of study in policy and advocacy and develop the skills necessary to advocate for education policies that will better serve California students and teachers. They further their impact through collaborative work on key issues and interactions with district and state decision makers.
“This past year, Teach Plus teachers brought to the table smart policy recommendations on California’s ESSA plan and advocated to make teacher tenure a true professional benchmark,” said Sarah Lillis, Executive Director of Teach Plus California. “We’re looking forward to working with our new cohort of Fellows as they bring their expertise to bear on key issues that impact the profession and ensuring every child in California has a chance to succeed.”
The Fellowship builds its work around issues that are timely and relevant to local communities and the state. In focusing on such priorities as recruitment and retention of diverse teachers in LAUSD, equitable access to high quality educators, and support for early career teachers, the new Fellows will continue to build on the policy and advocacy successes of the previous cohorts of Teach Plus California Policy Fellows. The new cohort will continue through June 2019.
“As a Teach Plus Policy Fellow, I will be able to influence policies that affect the lives of so many students, families, and teachers,” said Daniel Helena, a 6th grade English teacher at Kory Hunter Middle School in the Los Angeles Unified School District. “I’m looking forward to learning and collaborating with other educators and stakeholders to advocate for policies that empower teachers to more readily provide students the educational experience they deserve.”
“With Teach Plus’s guidance, and with the support of the incredible network of passionate teachers I have met, I feel hopeful and excited to continue the important work of advocating for our schools and our students,” said Camden Flores, a Kindergarten teacher at Kempton Street Literacy Academy in La Mesa-Spring Valley School District.
The new Fellows come from a variety of districts in California. Of the 25 educators there are 14 school districts represented across California including: Los Angeles Unified School District, West Contra Costa Unified School District, Chula Vista Elementary School District, Oakland Unified School District, Modesto Unified School District, and Long Beach Unified School District. Many of the incoming teachers have been recognized for outstanding instruction by their respective schools and districts.
The 2018-19 Teach Plus California Teaching Policy Fellows are:
- Ashley T. Alexander Schauer, Murphy Elementary School, West Contra Costa Unified School District
- Ron Anaya, Western Sierra Collegiate Academy, Rocklin Unified School District
- Richard Barclay, Da Vinci Design High School, Wiseburn School District
- Julianne Beebe, Long Beach Polytechnic High School, Long Beach Unified School District
- Katherine Blackburn, Manzanita Community School, Oakland Unified School District
- Spencer Burrows, The City School, Los Angeles Unified School District
- Gwendolyn Delgado, La Mesa Junior High School, William Hart School District
- Jeannemarie DeQuiroz, Camino Nuevo High School, Miramar, Camino Nuevo Charter Academy
- Natalie Fensterstock, Summit Public Schools – K2, West Contra Costa Unified School District
- Heather Fitzgerald, Hickory Elementary School, Torrance Unified School District
- Camden Flores, Kempton Street Literacy Academy, La Mesa-Spring Valley School District
- Karina Gensicke, Franklin Avenue Elementary, Los Angeles Unified School District
- Daniel Helena, Kory Hunter Middle School, Los Angeles Unified School District
- Amelia Herrera, Grace Davis High School, Modesto Unified School District
- Sarah La Due, Korematsu Middle School, West Contra Costa Unified School District
- Erica Marlaine, Nevada Avenue Elementary School, Los Angeles Unified School District
- Paulina Martinez Perez, Chula Vista Learning Community Charter School, Chula Vista Elementary School District
- V. Xavier Nguyen, John Glenn High School, Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District
- Christina Nitsos, Lafayette Elementary School, Lafayette School District
- Andres Perez, High Tech High Chula Vista, Statewide Benefit Charter
- Cinda Rapp, Vista Educational Center, West Contra Costa Unified School District
- Nikki Revell, New Designs Charter School, University Park Campus, Los Angeles Unified School District
- Charles Snow, KIPP Scholar Academy, Los Angeles Unified School District
- Ernesto Umaña, Summit Public Schools – Tamalpais, West Contra Costa Unified School District
- Gregory Williams Jr., Narbonne High School, Los Angeles Unified School District
About Teach Plus
Teach Plus empowers excellent, experienced teachers to take leadership over key policy and practice issues that affect their students’ success. Teach Plus programs are designed to place highly effective teachers at the center of improvements in schools as leaders of their peers and outside schools influencing policy decisions that affect their classrooms. The programs develop excellent teachers into leaders who achieve change and mobilize others in their school, district, state, and across the nation to bring change to scale. Since its inception in 2009, Teach Plus has grown to a network of more than 29,000 solutions-oriented teachers across the country. teachplus.org
