A+ Assembles Team to Assist Challenge Network Middle Schools
Houston A+ Challenge is pleased to welcome seven experienced educators to the A+ team, to work with students, families, teachers and school leaders in the Challenge Network. This ambitious and innovative new initiative, which will launch this fall in five Houston-area middle schools, aims to significantly increase the numbers of economically disadvantaged students in the Houston area who are prepared for postsecondary success.
The Challenge Network is a multi-year partnership between Houston A+ Challenge and six local school districts – Aldine, Alief, Goose Creek, Humble and YES Prep Public Schools. The program is rooted in research indicating that current levels of academic proficiency are insufficient and that higher levels of achievement are needed to prepare students for post-secondary success.
If the pilot cohort of Challenge Network schools achieve their goals, A+ plans to expand the program to many more schools and local districts in the coming years – to reach up to 50,000 children in 70 schools within six years – thus transforming the lives of economically disadvantaged students and of our community as a whole.
For the 2010-11 school year, each Performance Coach will be based on-site at one of the six Challenge Network middle schools. The entire team will report to the A+ Director of School Performance, who will also work with the A+ Director of Leadership to provide leadership development to administrative teams in the Challenge Network.
The new members of the A+ team are:
Tom Monaghan, Director of School Performance
Tom comes to A+ with 27 years of experience in Houston ISD, most recently having served as Executive Principal in the West Region. In that position, he worked closely with six middle schools and four high schools to build leadership capacity and transform secondary school cultures. He is a longtime member of the A+ network, having graduated from our New Visions in Leadership Academy in 2002 and serving as an Academy coach up through 2009-10 school year. During his tenure as principal of Lanier Middle School from 1998 to 2005, he lead the implementation of the school’s Houston Annenberg Challenge Beacon School grant.
Torrey Conerly, Performance Coach
Since 2007, Torrey has worked as an Math Content Specialist in Houston ISD’s West Region, a successor to Houston A+ Challenge’s successful ExxonMobil Math Initiative. In this role, Torrey provided model lessons, formal and informal teaching assessments, interventions, coaching and mathematics leadership to teachers and grade-level teams. She is a certified trainer for Laying the Foundation/Advanced Placement Strategies, and has five years of classroom teaching experience in mathematics at the middle school level.
Jennifer Fowler, Performance Coach
Jennifer started teaching middle school in Houston ISD in 1995, and served as a cluster leader and department chair until 2007. She then spent a year as a campus-level middle school literacy coach, before moving to the West Region as a content specialist. In that position, she worked with 15 secondary schools to improve their literacy programs, also providing model lessons, instructional strategies and student data reviews for teachers.
Cicely Greene, Performance Coach
As a literacy content specialist in Houston ISD’s North Region, Cicely spent the past two years coaching teachers and school administrators to improve classroom instruction through critical thinking, research-based strategies, and analysis of student data. Her coaching style is informed by seven years of exemplary, student-centered teaching experience, including bilingual and English as a Second Language (ESL), as well as several campus-based teacher leader positions.
Liz Mangus, Performance Coach
Liz is a Fulbright Scholar and a graduate of the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She started her career in education in 2001 as a Teach For America corps member at Golfcrest Elementary in Houston ISD. As a classroom teacher and teacher leader at Franklin and Port Houston Elementary Schools, she routinely led groups of students to 1.5 to 2 year academic gains in one year, and led teams of teachers to design and implement data-driven instruction, interventions, and professional development.
Jennifer Mascheck, Performance Coach
Jennifer started at A+ in May, after spending the 2009-10 school year as a Secondary Numeracy Curriculum Specialist in Houston ISD’s West Region. For the 10 years prior, she worked as a Mathematics Coordinator for the Upper School at St. Stephen’s Episcopal. In both roles, Jennifer served as a teacher of teachers, with responsibilities ranging from the development of mathematics curriculum and assessment tools to the recommendation and coordination of professional development.
Michael Webster, Performance Coach
Michael has worked for A+ since 2006. In that time, he has served as a Teacher Leadership Coach, assisted in the development of curriculum for the Regional Principal Leadership Academy, and managed a major expansion of the ExxonMobil and Reasoning Mind mathematics initiatives. Immediately prior, Michael served as a literacy coach in Houston ISD’s Reagan High School, where he spearheaded reform efforts in literacy and whole-school transformation.
