LOUISVILLE, Ky., March 11, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- A
Washington, D.C., high school
teacher who is an expert at engaging students' families in their
children's education was named today as the 2015 Toyota Family
Teacher of the Year. Kristen
Whitaker – who teaches history and government at Columbia
Heights Education Campus (CHEC), a Washington, D.C.-based school of 100 percent
minority and 90 percent low-income students – was surprised with
the award this morning during what was billed as a routine assembly
at her school. She was joined by more than 400 attendees, including
teachers, students, local and national education and civic leaders,
representatives of the National Center for Families Learning (NCFL)
who presented Whitaker with a $20,000
grant that she will use to fund a family summer camp program for
low-income minority students and their families. She is the first
high school teacher to win this annual award.
![D.C. Public Schools Chief John Davis congratulates Kristen Whitaker (left), as Principal Tukeva looks on. D.C. Public Schools Chief John Davis congratulates Kristen Whitaker (left), as Principal Tukeva looks on.](https://photos.prnewswire.com/prnvar/20150311/181037)
Whitaker is the catalyst behind more than 200 home visits made
by CHEC faculty since the start of the current school year. Home
visitation builds a meaningful relationship with a student and
their family, and is a particularly successful strategy for
connecting with families from cultural minority groups. She has
trained teachers at CHEC and other schools to conduct successful
home visits and regularly hosts parents at student portfolio
presentations. She also leads CHEC's offering of an after-school
program in which students and parents work together on
collaborative media projects about items in the news.
The Toyota Family Teacher of the Year award, a national honor
now in its 19th year, recognizes that families play a
crucial role in the learning process of children and salutes
educators who are exceptional at using intergenerational approaches
to engage students and their families in education. Whitaker and
runner up, Donna LaBeaume of
San Antonio, Texas, will be
recognized for their accomplishments as they attend the annual
Families Learning Summit in Houston on March
17. The Summit convenes the nation's most progressive
experts in education, policy, and family and parent engagement to
discuss and share the latest information regarding
multigenerational approaches to learning.
"Kristen believes strongly in the importance of meeting parents
'where they are' in order to build trust and achieve family goals,
and brings knowledge of family culture into school to personalize
instruction for our students," said Principal Maria Tukeva. "She is relentless at making home
visits – she has met with more than three dozen families this
school year alone. Her work has created a whole new energy around
involving parents at CHEC."
Toyota Family Teacher of the Year runner up LaBeaume is a
virtual pre-kindergarten coach at the Southwest Independent School
District Early Childhood Center in San
Antonio, Texas, who works with more than 100 predominantly
Hispanic children and their parents, using technology and parent
coaching to encourage early childhood literacy. LaBeaume also
received a $5,000 grant to continue
family engagement efforts.
"Study after study has proven that parents engaged in their
children's learning increases student achievement," said
Sharon Darling, president, NCFL.
"And more recent studies also indicate that the willingness of a
parent to get involved in their child's education is very powerful
in strengthening the parent-child relationship … as well as the
entire school and the community as a whole."
"The family summer camp Kristen plans is a great example of
using the Toyota Family Teacher of the Year grant to employ the
latest approaches to intergenerational learning in a program that
will appeal to and reach entire families," said Mike Goss, vice president of external affairs,
Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America. "The
extraordinary work of both Kristen and Donna in engaging families
in their student's education will pay dividends for these students,
their families, their schools and their communities for generations
to come."
About the National Center for Families Learning
The National Center for Families Learning (NCFL) is a national
nonprofit organization dedicated to helping adults and children
learn together. NCFL creates and deploys innovative programs and
strategies that support learning, literacy, and family engagement
in education. NCFL collaborates with educators, advocates, and
policy-makers to help families construct hotspots for learning
wherever they go. For more information on NCFL's 25-year track
record, visit www.familieslearning.org.
About Toyota
Toyota (NYSE: TM), the world's top automaker and creator of the
Prius, is committed to building vehicles for the way people live
through its Toyota, Lexus and Scion brands. Over the
past 50 years, Toyota has built more than 25 million cars and
trucks in North America, where it
operates 14 manufacturing plants and directly employs more than
40,000 people. The company's 1,800 North American dealerships sold
more than 2.5 million cars and trucks in 2013 – and about 80
percent of all Toyota vehicles sold over the past 20 years are
still on the road today. For more information about Toyota, visit
www.toyotanewsroom.com.
Media Contact:
Bonnie Hackbarth
Guthrie/Mayes Public Relations for
NCFL
bhackbarth@guthriemayes.com
(502) 625-1658 (office)
(502) 552-3770 (mobile)
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SOURCE Toyota