First-grade teacher Susan Toohey Kaye integrates differentiated instruction, balanced literacy, and math problem-solving strategies into her teaching repertoire at Washington Oak Elementary School in Coventry. She utilizes exemplars and math problem-solving tasks, and watches students' standardized test scores rise every year. Mrs. Toohey Kaye serves as the local site coordinator for the American Federation of Teachers Educational Research and Dissemination professional development program in Coventry. Upon being named the first Rhode Island elementary teacher to achieve National Board for Professional Teaching Standards Certification, Mrs. Toohey Kaye was included on the Rhode Island Department of Education's Distinguished Educators (RIDE) list. She has served as a National Board candidate mentor since 1997 and is an active member of Washington Oak's School Improvement Team.
Since returning from the National Education Conference in DC it has become evident to me that a systematic network of distiguished educators could have a tremendous impact on reform efforts in Rhode Island. The human capital in the education profession here is untapped and underutilized. I am very interested in working with others in my state to develop a true network of expert educators who could be called upon to participate in the development of state to align their coursework with public school curriculum expectations and assessments, and more. I would love to hear from other Milken Educators who were either welcomed into an existing network of Milken Educators or distiguished otherwise, or plan to develop a network in the future. I look forward to your feedback! Thank you!
