 | School Board - Lisa Cooley Lisa Cooley brings real education change to the school board table. Her position on progressive education and opposition to high-stakes testing and standardization bring the wider world of school transformation to a rural New England school district. She brings her ideas on meaningful student learning to every aspect of school board activity, from the budget, to curriculum decisions, to student expulsion hearings.
Her goals are to bring students’ interests, passions, enjoyments and curiosities to their everyday work at school are why she should receive this recognition.
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 | David Bernstein - Education Reporter
You can vote for david here. |
 | Kris Nielsen - Middle School Teacher of the Year There are innovative educators in thousands of classrooms all across America. Having served as a middle grades educator and instructional leader for six years in New Mexico, Oregon, and North Carolina, Kris L. Nielsen is one of them. Nielsen became frustrated as he watched political policies put in place that are strangling the drive and desire for educators to be the innovative class leaders they grew to be. As a result Nielsen was compelled to write Children of the Core www.childrenofthecore.com written with parents in mind, and with students as the inspiration. Nielsen says, “We--parents, students, and teachers--were promised a revolutionary new system that would narrow the achievement gaps in reading and math, create environments for deeper and critical thinking, and prepare our students for life, career, and college. What we’re finding is that none of this is true. It’s all totally opposite.”
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 | Secondary School Principal - Chris Lehmann Chris Lehmann not only talks the talk. He gets right in their and walks the walk...and in some cases, like when he does races with students, he'll run the run to keep up with his kids.
The best way to explain why Chris should be recognized is to share some of the talking that Chris walks in his own words:
"If you dare kids to do real stuff that matters, you better be prepared to get out of the way." “Technology should be like oxygen: ubiquitous, necessary, and invisible.” "I want kids to be "thoughtful, wise, passionate and kind." "Schools can be places of great passion where students learn what it means to be scholar-activists, fully invested in authentic work that matters to them today, not someday."
When Chris is not talking the talk and walking the walk, he is writing about it. His blog (http://practicaltheory.org/blog) is a continual source of inspiration to educators, parents, and students around the globe.
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 | Education School Professor - Mark Naison Ever since the community history projects he was doing in Bronx Schools were pushed out to make room for high stakes testing, Mark Naison has been taking a stand to end the demonetization of teachers and restore what is best for students, staff, and parents who are a part of our schools. Naison is the funky fresh Fordham University professor known as Notorious PhD. He spreads his message via his blog “With a Brooklyn Accent” (http://withabrooklynaccent.blogspot.com); through his “Teachers Talk Back” listserve; and through the speeches and educational raps he gives at rallies and demonstrations in defense of public education. Check out his “Achievement Rap” which he performed here (http://youtu.be/IZfj5XMKVyc)at a “Save Our Schools” March.
His most recent initiative is a Teachers Oral History project (http://withabrooklynaccent.blogspot.com/2013/03/teacher-oral-history-project-to.html) that will document the damage that has been done to public education and teachers professionalism in the age of high stakes tests.
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 | Jessica Smock - Education Policy Research Jessica served as a teacher and curriculum coordinator for more than a decade before turning to research and writing. She recently defended her doctoral dissertation about the educational experiences of African American female graduates of a nonprofit. Currently, her focus is related to the role of innovative programs and individuals to transform education. Specifically she has been looking at what can be learned from models such as home education that empower young people to learn outside school settings which you can read here http://gettingsmart.com/cms/edreformer/what-an-educator-learned-from-home-schooling-parents/
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 | Jean McTavish, High School Principal Jean Schutt McTavish is a unique school leader for her activism in ensuring our children have healthy bodies and minds. She gave up a considerable amount of office space to build a student kitchen where students can cook food that they have grown in the school’s garden and teaches a spin class at 7 a.m. three days a week. In addition to supporting the health and fitness of students’ bodies, she also works hard to support their minds. McTavish works to instill students with self confidence and the belief that they can do anything they set their minds to. Part of her work to instil confidence in students and ensure their success involves speaking out about the deleterious effects of high stakes testing on students who are most at risk in America. McTavish believes educational leaders must stand up for our children and will fearlessly call out any leader willing to sell out the education of children to advance their career. She speaks, writes, and acts to effect change in this area and opts her own children out of high stakes testing. |
 | Me! Education Commenter / Blogger I was excited to recently learn that I too was nominated for an award. Exciting!!!
Here’s what the nomination said: Lisa Nielsen thinks in very liberated and liberating ways about education. She pushes the envelope in the area of reinventing what schooling means, what the objectives should be and how do it. Outspoken and courageous, she has taken many bold and controversial positions based on her belief that educators and education must be reinvented to be relevant in a brave new, technology-driven world.
Lisa is a strong collaborator and works with many groups to help move education reform forward. It's hard not to be impressed by the extent to which Lisa will go to push others forward, to empower and support the people she believes are on the right track. Her passion, energy and bias for action puts her in the league of proactive bloggers/commentators who go beyond writing and speaking about education reform to actually organizing and acting to advance the reforms she believes are critical to the field of education. Thoughtful, way out of the box thinker, more than and idea person...a "doer."
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