Policy Fellows will advocate for improvements in early literacy and school climate and focus on growing opportunities for multilingual learners.
Sacramento, CA, October 23, 2024 — Teach Plus, a national nonprofit that empowers teachers to lead student-centered improvements in educational policy and instructional practice, has selected a diverse group of 25 educators from around California for its 2024-25 Policy Fellowship cohort. The Fellows will focus on a range of issues of importance to California’s students including early literacy and school climate and build on Teach Plus’s recent legislative wins for multilingual emergent bilingual students. They will also address the need to reimagine the teaching profession to better serve today’s students and educators.
“Over the last 15 years, Teach Plus has seen the power of informed and empowered, equity-minded educators to transform the education system to help our students fulfill their potential. We believe that these educational champions have the power to drive the change our students need, and this has only been reaffirmed by the energy of our newest cohort of Policy Fellows,” said Teach Plus California Executive Director Sarah Lillis.
“I have seen inequities that directly impact my students and want the opportunity to provide my perspective on educating English learners and kids with special needs in a low-income school and district. I want to help make policy-level changes that come directly from the classroom. I want these changes to have direct, positive outcomes for my students,” said 2024-25 Teach Plus California Policy Fellow Jennifer Kelso, who teaches elementary school in the West Contra Costa Unified School District.
The cohort includes several National Board Certified Teachers, a local union bargaining team member, treasurer, vice president and vice chair, and Parent Teacher Association Outstanding Teacher recipients. Teach Plus California Policy Fellows are reflective of the diversity of the state, and the students they serve, and are located throughout Northern, Central, and Southern California. The Fellowship is composed of early-career teachers who have just completed their second year teaching to veterans with more than 30 years of experience. Coming from a variety of settings including district schools, charter schools, and early childhood centers, they teach a variety of subjects and serve students from transitional kindergarten through 12th grade.
“While my experience advocating for various issues in front of the school board, city council, and state policy leaders has been empowering, it has also taught me how much left I have to learn in the realm of educational policy. The Teach Plus Policy Fellowship will equip me with the tools to be more impactful as I advocate for educational equity and justice, whether as a leader in my union or organizer in my community,” said Spencer Pritchard, 2024-25 Teach Plus California Policy Fellow, who teaches high school in the Berkeley Unified School District.
The 2024-25 Teach Plus California Senior Policy Fellows are:
- Krystle Goff, Thomas A. Edison Middle School, Los Angeles Unified School District
- Olivia Hart, Itinerant, San Bernardino City Unified School District
- Rebecca Pariso, EO Green Junior High School, Hueneme Elementary School District
- Allison Mae Walker, Bear Valley Middle School, Escondido Union School District
The 2024-25 Teach Plus California Policy Fellows are:
- Israel Angel Aceves, Downtown Value School, Los Angeles Unified School District
- Maria Aguilera, Alliance College-Ready Middle School 8, Alliance College-Ready Public Schools
- Ryan Alvarez, Elkhorn Village Elementary, Washington Unified School District
- Brittany Banner, Melrose STEM Elementary School, Los Angeles Unified School District
- Erika Cedeño, Golden Valley High School, William S. Hart District
- Chanmi Chun, Shirakawa Elementary School, Franklin-McKinley School District
- Jennifer Clayton, North Monterey County Middle School, North Monterey County Unified School District
- Todd Farley, KIPP Navigate College Prep, San Jose Unified School District
- Annette Freeman, Prunedale Elementary School, North Monterey County Unified School District
- Kunyou Guan, Hillcrest Elementary, Garvey School District
- Kimesha Guidry, Whelan State Preschool, Lennox School District
- Stephanie Hammerman, Birmingham Community Charter High School, Los Angeles Unified School District
- Lanae Jimenez, Azusa High School, Azusa Unified School District
- Barbara Johnson, Chualar School, Chualar Union School District
- Jennifer Kelso, Fairmont Elementary School, West Contra Costa Unified School District
- Spencer Pritchard, Berkeley High School, Berkeley Unified School District
- Xitlali Sedano, D.W. Babcock Elementary School, Twin Rivers Unified School District
- Lesley Sluyter, Torrance High School, Torrance Unified School District
- Derrick Walker, CCLA-Technology Prep Academy, Los Angeles Unified School District
- Carolyn Willie, Figueroa Street Elementary School, Los Angeles Unified School District
- Annie Xiong, Allendale Elementary School, Oakland Unified School District
If interested in interviewing Executive Director Sarah Lillis or any of the Fellows, please contact Kelly Pearce at kpearce@teachplus.org or 928-925-9236.
About Teach Plus
Teach Plus is dedicated to the mission of empowering excellent, experienced, and diverse teachers to take leadership over key policy and practice issues that advance equity, opportunity, and student success. In pursuing our mission, Teach Plus is guided by our Student Opportunity Mandate: All students should have the opportunity to achieve their potential in an education system defined by its commitment to equity, its responsiveness to individual needs, and its ability to prepare students for postsecondary success. 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. Learn more at teachplus.org/ca/
