I believe that an excellent education can change a child’s life trajectory. I was lucky to have a few key adults reach out to me as mentors throughout my childhood, providing stability during unstable times. When I transferred to a rural public high school, I realized that not everyone has teachers who understand their struggles enough to demand their very best.

Highly effective teachers lead students to success despite challenges. In college, I took honors classes in feminist theory, and began to understand the power structures that keep people disempowered. I also worked several jobs, and put feminist theory into action facilitating the New Crisis Counselor Training program at the Listening Ear Crisis Center. I learned from people who had succeeded in the past, as well as from the newest members of the organization, and realized that I could unify everyone around, and achieve, ambitious goals. I felt compelled to offer other struggling students similar opportunities by pursuing a career in education, graduated with honors from the Honors College at Michigan State University, and learned Spanish in order to maximize my ability to make an impact. In my Teach For America placement school in Miami-Dade County, I came to know my high school students’ passions, and helped them harness their potential through literacy instruction, and by coaching girls’ soccer. Though I am certified in Texas (Special Education EC -12 and 4 other areas) and Florida (Exceptional Student Education K-12 and 6 other areas), I feel I can never know enough about good teaching.

Strong school leaders hire, develop and retain good teachers. I have had the pleasure of interviewing and training thousands of new teachers nationwide through The New Teacher Project (TNTP) as a Professional Development Manager, Ambassador, Selector, Fellow Advisor, Content Seminar Leader, and most recently the Lead Selector in Austin, and have had the distinct honors of achieving National Board Certification with a cohort of 41 talented Austin educators, as well as mentoring members of new cohorts. I received the Aspiring Principals Scholarship from Teachers College, Columbia University, will graduate with a Master’s in Education Leadership in October of 2012, and have the privilege of collaborating with 160 outstanding educational leaders from across the country through the Summer Principals Academy. From all of these educators, I have gleaned some insight, and hope to continue to learn more about how strong leaders provide environments in which adults and children thrive.

Quality policy cultivates positive leadership and school culture. I was teaching at Johnston High School when the Texas Commissioner of Education closed it for failing to make significant progress under the accountability system, and I was fortunate to be one of the 25 percent of our faculty hired to teach in the reconstituted school. Because of these experiences, I am interested in finding more nuanced evaluation systems to better measure a range of outcomes such as individual student growth, learning environment, and community engagement. I am currently a full-release mentor for new teachers with REACH, a strategic compensation pilot program through the Office of Educator Quality in Austin Independent School District. In this role I have the unique opportunity to see the impact of our pilot pay, evaluation, and mentoring program from 32 other leaders like me, who mentor a total of about 300, 1st to 3rd year teachers in Austin.

I am grateful to every teacher and caring adult that saw my potential and demanded the best from me, and am honored to have the opportunity to learn from, and be inspired by, the high-caliber educators and change-agents I will meet as a Teaching Ambassador Fellow. I look forward to learning more about the development, implementation and impact of education policies in a variety of environments, sharing that knowledge with other educators, and synthesizing best practices to improve student outcomes.