RESEARCH and PRACTICE PERSPECTIVES regular indoor classrooms to five outdoor stations. The goal was to make sure that each student’s learning style was addressed, whether kinesthetic, visual, or auditory. Evans enlisted the help of fellow science teachers and mentors in hopes that each student would have at least one adult who taught in a way that he or she learned. Evans’ methods worked! An astounding 97% of his students passed the TAKS. (Only one student with documented test anxiety did not pass. She missed the cut-off score by one question.) Even more impressive is the fact that 68% of the students were recognized for commendable performance (answering approximately 92% or more of the questions correctly). The scores rivaled those seen in the most affluent schools in the district. Now Evans has extended his reach beyond his own classroom. During his first year participating in the Dr. Ronald E. McNair Educational (D.R.E.M.E.) Science Literacy Foundation’s Summer Teacher Institute and Science Camp, he was named the Most Outstanding Instructor 2010, in recognition of his superior teaching strategies during the camp. He also received the honor of being asked to be the keynote speaker at the camp’s closing ceremonies. Evans is now the camp’s co-director and educational program director.
for a Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST), the highest recognition that a K-12 mathematics or science teacher can receive for outstanding teaching in the U.S... Awardees serve as models for their colleagues, inspiration to their communities, and leaders in the improvement of mathematics and science education. Presidential awardees receive a $10,000 award from the National Science Foundation. For his students’ outstanding test scores, Evans was inducted into the Teacher Hall of Fame for Outstanding Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) Performance/Scores 2011, Wesley Elementary School, Houston Independent School District.
“RtT has been the existing portal that has led to the greatest personal fulfillment I have experienced in my professional career,” says Evans. “I have the opportunity daily to impact lives for the future and to inspire and ignite the desire for lifelong learning, as well as to see the results associated with dedication to task.”
For his body of work in just two years, Evans has been nominated
What Works! Igniting a Passion to Learn “Education the
is
constant
your
passport” is runs
at The Painted Turtle in Los Angeles, California. Founded by actor
through Nasser Muhammad’s mind.
Paul Newman and Page Adler, The Painted Turtle serves more than
Armed with his mother’s wisdom,
200,000 children with chronic illnesses in all 50 states and more
Muhammad graduated from Sidwell
than 39 countries. Nearly 40% of The Painted Turtle’s campers are
Friends School, was recruited to
from low-income families, but all campers attend the camp free
college on a football scholarship,
of charge.
and
Muhammad was jolted from reverie about his volunteer days by
graduated
refrain
from
that
summer after his college sophomore year, when he volunteered
Shepherd
University with a communications and journalism degree. After working in the communications industry for a couple of years, “I realized I just didn’t have a passion for the field or being in an office all day,” he explains. As he pondered his next career move, he recalled how invigorated he felt the
a realization and more questions: “The more I thought about my future, the more I knew I wanted to use the communications skills I’d acquired in my college major to teach, to connect with and help children! But how would I do that?” He turned to his cousin, Leonard Muhammad, for advice. Leonard immediately encouraged him to consider Howard University’s Ready to Teach Program. As a member of the program’s second cohort of participants, Leonard was well-informed about this pathway to the teaching profession. The SOE Review
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