DENVER, CO ⎯ Teach Plus Colorado has selected 15 highly-effective teacher leaders as Fellows of its second Colorado Teaching Policy Fellowship. During the nine-month program, Fellows will work on key state-level issues, such as teacher recruitment and retention, state education funding, Pre-K discipline, and teacher leadership. The program empowers teachers to magnify the impact they have in their classrooms through personal interactions with education leaders and opportunities to advocate for policies that will better serve Colorado teachers and students.
“The new cohort is set to build upon the outstanding work of our inaugural group of Fellows, who
worked on creating the Colorado Commissioner’s Teacher Cabinet, published a brief providing policy recommendations on the state’s ESSA plan, and built teachers’ capacity to actively engage with policy makers on education funding,” said Mark Sass, Colorado State Policy Director. “Having excellent teachers from around the state bring their perspectives to bear on Colorado education policy is vital to ensuring that teachers are charting the course of our students’ education along with other stakeholders.”
“I joined Teach Plus to be a voice for both students and teachers in Colorado. I look forward to networking with teachers, legislators, and the community in the hopes of driving education forward while maintaining an active role in the classroom,” said Fellow Jennifer Wiggins, an elementary teacher at Westerly Creek Elementary School in Denver.
The new Fellows come from across the state and teach in a variety of urban and rural districts. Of the 15 educators, eleven teach on the Front Range and four teach in rural areas. The Fellows teach in charter, innovation, and non-charter public schools, and across all grade levels. Many of the Fellows are leaders in their schools and communities and have been recognized for their outstanding instruction. The application process was highly competitive, with 72 applicants vying for 15 spots in the final cohort.
The Colorado Teaching Policy Fellows are:
Kathleen Anderson, Strive Prep , Denver
Jennifer Armstrong, Hillcrest Elementary, Thornton
Carla Cariño, North High School , Denver
Alison Corbett, High Tech Early College, Denver
Jonathan Davis, Studio School, Thornton
Anita Hinger, Pagosa Springs Middle School, Pagosa Springs
Jamita Horton, Rocky Mountain Prep Southwest, Denver
Mary Hulac, Prarie Heights Middle School, Weld County
Sarah Lamberg, Fountain Middle School, Fountain Fort Carson
Sara Lemmon, McAuliffe International School, Denver
Jason Mayer, Liberty Common High School, Fort Collins
Nathan Pearsall, Vista Ridge High School , Colorado Springs
Marsia Ronyak, Independence Elementary, Aurora
Melissa Shaw, Pagosa Springs Middle School, Pagosa Springs
Jennifer Wiggins, Westerly Creek Elementary, Denver
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 August 2007, Teach Plus has grown to a network of more than 26,000 solutions-oriented teachers across the country. www.teachplus.org
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