Yolanda Pender-Bey is a 2025-2026 Teach Plus Illinois Chicago Change Agent. She is the primary resource teacher, English Learner Program Teacher Educator, and Bilingual Coordinator at Mount Vernon Elementary School in Chicago. Yolanda is on the Instructional Leadership Team, is the lead science teacher who redesigned the science program that includes a student-built nature play space in Jackie Robinson Park, and was responsible for establishing the Multi-Tiered System of Supports program. She was her current school’s Teacher of the Year (2014), Tunica County Rotary Club’s Teacher of the Month (2015), and Robinsonville Elementary School’s Teacher of the Month (2015 and 2016). Yolanda earned a BS in elementary education and MS in special education from Chicago State University, as well as her MA in educational leadership from Governor’s State University.
