September 20, 2017 – Hope Street Group (HSG) has launched its Teacher Fellow Alumni Network this summer to formalize leadership roles for educators in previous cohorts of the National and State Teacher Fellows programs. These roles piloted in 2017 include service to a Teacher Advisory Council (TAC) for assessing and enhancing the internal and external engagement of HSG education programs. Daviess County Public Schools math instructional coach Jana Bryant, was one of just 15 educators selected for a two-year TAC term encompassing the 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 school years:
· Jarred Amato – Metro Nashville Public Schools (TN)
· Jim Brooks – Wilkes Co. Schools (NC)
· Kristen Brummel – Kaimuki-McKinley-Roosevelt Complex Area (HI)
· Jana Bryant – Daviess County Public Schools (KY)
· Michael Dunlea – Tabernacle School District (NJ)
· David Edelman – New York City Department of Education (NY)
· Mamie Hall – Research Triangle High School (NC)
· Guy Hill – Harnett Co. Public Schools (NC)
· Elizabeth Lovett – Knox Co. Public Schools (KY)
· Jonathon Medeiros – Kapaa-Kauai-Waimea Complex Area (HI)
· Beth Oswald – Evansville Community School District (WI)
· Freeda Pirillis – Chicago Public Schools (IL)
· Dana Siegel – Collierville Schools (TN)
· Stan Torzewski – Jefferson Co. Public Schools (KY)
· Marc Walls – Clarksville-Montgomery Co. Schools (TN)
Hailing from eight states, spanning 15 unique public school districts or Charter schools and a variety of experiences in education, the 2017-2019 TAC Members will represent their communities, their Fellows programs and excellence in teacher leadership overall, with extracurricular work streams that include reflection on their HSG experiences, evaluating current HSG programming and connecting current and alumni Teacher Fellows across the country with each other and with their wider professional learning networks. They will conduct bi-monthly virtual meetings, with in-personal convenings about three times per year.
Bryant recently served as a Kentucky Teacher Fellow from 2013-2015, leading peer engagement including data collections, decision-maker engagement, and strategic communications like Twitter chats, op-eds and blogs.
“My previous fellowship with Hope Street Group continues to be the pivotal point at which my outlook on my role as an educator changed forever,” Bryant said. “During my fellowship, I realized that it was imperative that I begin to realize that it was important to become an active member of organizations that would work to support my areas of interests such as increasing teacher effectiveness, improving instructional advocacy and supporting high standards for teaching, the teaching profession and for increasing student achievement. I also began to understand the role organizations I was a member of, in particular the Kentucky Education Association and National Education Association, had in influencing educational policies at the state and national level.”
“Continuing in a role with Hope Street Group is most appealing to me as I seek to increase and to create relationships with stakeholders and partners across the nation seeking to improve outcomes for students and working conditions for educators,” Bryant continued. “I want to have the opportunity to work with passionate educators across the state and the nation to support, to share and to develop resources to transform the teaching profession in ways to prepare all students to become college and career ready.”
“Sometimes teachers feel they have not been given a voice in educational policy or feel people who do not understand and appreciate what happens in our schools are making decisions,” Bryant said. “I feel that growing professionally through HSG’s programs and partnerships is something teachers may not think about and I would like to learn more about ways to develop state and national leadership teams that have a pulse on the needs and concerns of our teachers. It is important for teachers to communicate their ideas about education, what is working and what needs changing, to our elected officials and decision makers.”
DCPS assistant superintendent of teaching and learning Jana Beth Francis said students and educators benefit from Jana Bryant’s advocacy and commitment to professional development. “Hope Street Group does what every good organization working in education should do, they listen to the voice of the teacher,” Francis said. “Jana Bryant’s voice continues to have a national level impact. Jana keeps students and teachers in the forefront of her work. When she first joined Hope Street Group as a Kentucky fellow, advocacy was new to Jana. Now, it’s just second nature. Daviess County Public Schools is lucky to have Jana advocating for teachers at the national level.
Hope Street Group is a national nonpartisan organization that works to ensure every American will have access to tools and options leading to economic opportunity and prosperity. First coordinating cohorts of National Teacher Fellows in 2012, HSG launched its State Teacher Fellows program in Kentucky in 2013 with proven success, replicating the model in Hawai’i in 2014, North Carolina and Tennessee in 2015, and in Utah and Arizona this year.
Jana is a National Board Certified Teacher in the Daviess County Public Schools, Owensboro, KY where she serves as the district math instructional coach. She is the Ky State Captain and Core Advocate with Student Achievement Partners and has served as a high school math content EdReports reviewer. She has taught mathematics for over twenty years to students in grades 4 through 12 and post-secondary in the states of KY, MA, NC, and FL. Jana earned a B.A. in Mathematics and a M.A. in Mathematics Education from Western Kentucky University.
Learn more about the 2017-2019 HSG TAC Members, including how to follow their work on Twitter, at http://www.hopestreetgroup.org/tfalumni/tac.
You can see more on HSG’s Teacher Fellows programs here, and the Teacher Fellow Alumni Network (TFAN), under which the TAC is a primary leadership role, here.