New award program from leading PreK-12 edtech company honors teachers for their outstanding use of education technology and impact on students during the 2020-2021 school year
Cambium Learning® Group, a leading provider of award-winning education technology and services for PreK-12 markets, today announced the inaugural winners of its Essential Educators Award. The program is rooted in Cambium’s essential elements of simplicity, certainty and now with three winners chosen from Miami-Dade County, Florida; Katy, Texas; and Springfield, Missouri.
“Teaching is a challenging profession at any time, but the 2020-2021 school year brought on more obstacles for educators than ever before,” said John Campbell, CEO of Cambium Learning Group. “With the Essential Educators Award, we wanted to honor some of the teachers who, despite everything, are doing absolutely incredible work and making a difference in the lives of their students.”
Cambium understands that educators play an essential role in the effort to transform education, and create a more successful and equitable system for all. The award is aligned with Cambium’s mission of helping students and teachers in the moment, and leveraging simple, effective solutions to do so. This year’s honorees include three outstanding educators:
- Sofia Inguanzo-Perez, Eugenia B. Thomas K-8 Center (Miami-Dade County Public Schools): Sofia’s ability to solve challenges in the classroom is exemplified by her students’ high performance in previous years and in the current school year. As an active user of Cambium family brand ExploreLearning’s Gizmos®, Sofia recognizes that technology can serve as a resource to help students understand the world around them.
- Lauren Calvert, Mayde Creek Junior High (Katy Independent School District):Lauren stepped into a new role last school year which required learning a new curriculum and stood out as an exemplary member of her team. As the district shifted directions and adopted new programs for this school year, she embraced the district’s resource, Lexia® PowerUp Literacy®, attending the earliest trainings and getting to work exploring the program. Lauren has created a program that keeps her students’ needs first in everything she teaches.
- Stephanie Summers, McBride Elementary School (Springfield Public Schools): During the 2020-2021 school year, Stephanie relocated her physical first grade classroom to become an online first grade classroom for LAUNCH, Springfield Public Schools’ virtual school. While providing direct instruction online, she engages students in a variety of Learning A-Z® technology tools to engage young learners in reading, writing, science, and social studies. Being online does not keep Stephanie from building relationships, knowing her students abilities, and creating a community of learners.
For the inaugural program, Cambium invited several school districts to submit written nominations for teachers who have gone above and beyond. As part of the awards, Cambium is donating $1,000 in each winner’s honor to the Kids In Need Foundation, which empowers under-resourced teachers and students by providing the supplies they need to succeed.