Awards

Community
Pioneer Innovators

The Gheens Institute for Innovation honors community members whose past innovative practices and/or contributions to Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) have had a significant impact on student success. These honorees are recognized annually as Pioneer Innovators.

District
Creativity and Entrepreneurship Awards

The Gheens Institute for Innovation annually recognizes innovation in education through its Creativity and Entrepreneurship Awards. The Institute recognizes individuals or teams of individuals who are models for demonstrating educational excellence, visionary leadership, and a commitment to innovative practices that have an impact on the achievement of JCPS students.

Students
"Imagine" Art Competition

Young Entrepreneurs

Pioneer Innovator 2011


photo  

Sharon Darling

Sharon Darling is president and founder of the National Center for Family Literacy (NCFL) in Louisville. She has been a teacher, administrator, and educational entrepreneur, challenging the status quo and developing new methods of educating families. Internationally recognized as the leader in family literacy, NCFL is known for creating innovative program models; developing effective advocacy strategies; and providing research, training, and technical assistance to professionals working in literacy across the lifespan. Since its founding in 1989, NCFL has been dedicated to placing family literacy—parents and children learning together—on the agenda for social change. Most recently, Ms. Darling led the center in establishing the Hispanic Family Learning Institute, which has had a positive impact on the lives of thousands of Hispanic immigrants in the nation. For more than two decades, her model for working with the family unit has served as the framework for the JCPS Family Education program.
 

Marilyn Hohmann

Marilyn Hohmann is a preeminent leader at both the state and national levels in advancing education reform. She was a member of the Commission to Restructure the American High School, which authored Breaking Ranks: Changing an American Institution. Using practical experience she gained from her leadership with Fairdale High School, with the Coalition of Essential Schools, and with the commission, Marilyn engages Schlechty Center clients through keynote speaking and other professional-development (PD) activities. She has worked extensively in supporting the development of leadership skills for principals, central office personnel, and superintendents and the development of teacher leadership skills in designing quality work for students.
 

Laken Cosby Jr.

Laken Cosby Jr. is a graduate of Louisville Central High School and the University of Louisville School of Business. He is a past president of the Louisville branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and served for many years as a housing consultant for the state and national NAACP. He is an advocate for education. He persuaded the city of Louisville and Jefferson County to create a unified Section I program. This aided neighborhood integration and reduced the need for busing to achieve racial balance in JCPS. In 1988, Cosby became the first African-American chairman of the Jefferson County Board of Education (JCBE). He was also appointed to the Kentucky Board of Education in 1994 by Governor Brereton Jones and also was vice chairman of the board for three terms. He also served as director of Housing and Community Services with the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights. He established one of the nation's first statewide programs to test for racial discrimination in housing. Cosby also developed a training program for real estate professionals as a means of preventing discrimination from occurring in the sale and rental of housing.

Creativity and Entrepreneurship Awards 2011

District Innovation Awardees


photopdCentral

JCPS Gheens Academy Professional Development Department

Kathleen Nichter, Julia Wilson, Susan Thurman, Tequi Jackson, Lisa McNeese, Carol Porta, Donna Sherrod, John Freeman
   

"Imagine" a Web-based application that performs all of the "old functions" of the JCPS PD office in new ways. With the creative thinking of district leadership and the practical know-how of the Gheens Academy Professional Development Department, pdCentral was designed to provide JCPS employees access to district PD offerings through a paperless, electronic system. The system was pioneered as a tool for delving more deeply into the analysis of trends in offerings, evaluations, and attendance patterns and has subsequently been used to make true data-driven decisions about the impact of PD on teaching and learning in the district.

 

Project Proficiency

Assistant Superintendent of High Schools

Joseph Burks, Amy Herman, Jennifer Aberli, Kyle Underwood

"Imagine" a high school where all students are engaged in a rigorous curriculum and where all students are performing at a proficient level of achievement. Project Proficiency was specifically designed to yield those results and beyond. The Project Proficiency initiative in JCPS significantly balances instructors' commitment to teaching with their ownership of student learning. The system provides a practical framework for teachers to guarantee student learning of basic content standards in math and reading through differentiated instruction, assessment for learning, responsive interventions, and standards-based grading. Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) of teachers collaborate weekly to discuss student learning progression and exchange ideas about instructional implications and potential remediation strategies. This approach has drastically changed the landscape of teaching and learning in Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II, and sophomore English. The following projects representing Fern Creek Traditional and Doss High Schools and Moore Traditional School exemplify true innovation in the implementation of Project Proficiency.

Teacher Team
Data Days

Fern Creek Traditional High School

Rebecca Nicolas, Jose Alfaro, John Barbagallo, Justin Brown, Margaret Preston, Judith White, Andrew Ames, Paul Barnwell, Hollie Echevarria, Vickie Joyner, Brent Peters, Tyler Stevens
 

Algebra II Collaboration

Doss High School

Erin Kenney, Stacy Justus, Christina Punches-Guntsch, Jane Grieb

Reaching Proficiency in High Stakes Exams

Moore Traditional High School

Laura Hall, Robert Walsh, Kristi Kiehl, William Comstock, Pam Parker-Huck, Amanda Maugans, Patricia Midkiff, Vivian Johnson, Mitchell Osborne, Carl Johnson, Christopher Kaufman, Kanna Edison, Barbara Wimsatt.

School-Based Innovation Awardees: Elementary Schools

 

Parkland on Display

Maupin Elementary

Carolyn Connor, Jamey Herdelin

"Imagine" a school where students are engaged in a hands-on, project-based learning experience that is specifically designed to enhance their knowledge of their school community. Visit Maupin Elementary to find all of that and more happening in both the classroom and in the library media center. Students can be seen searching the Web, exploring library resources, and creating projects that depict the history of their school community. Extending the learning beyond the classroom, Maupin students have participated in neighborhood walks, photographed buildings of special interest, interviewed key community members, and invited guest speakers to share their Parkland stories. Under the guidance of Ms. Connor and Ms. Herdelin, students have also designed and created a mosaic display of essential business development needed to revitalize the Parkland area. The mosaic display, modeled after one that students viewed at the Ali Center, proudly hangs in the school's library media center and is entitled Parkland on Display. Additionally, the students authored a booklet with the same title, which is now being distributed at the Frazier History Museum.

 

Sweet Tweets From the Classroom

Dunn Elementary

Michael Ice

Is it just one's "imagination," or is there really Tweeting coming from that classroom? That is exactly what you will see and hear if you walk past a third-grade classroom at Dunn Elementary. Students in Mr. Ice's class are not only Tweeting but also Skyping and live streaming with students around the nation and abroad. The class has followers from the community, such as parents and business leaders, in addition to national celebrities and soldiers in Afghanistan. Twitter is incorporated into every aspect of the curriculum and makes learning relevant for the young students. The incorporation of technology into the elementary classroom also builds peer support, increases attention spans, and creates learning networks. "Imagine" a classroom of the future that incorporates technology throughout the school day!

The Student Spaceflight Experiment Program

The Academy @ Shawnee

Imogen Herrick, Pamela Zipper, Charles Wade, William Vandermeer, Joshua Raper, Nathan Harris

"Imagine" floating thousands of miles in space staring down at a small dot in the distance, which one calls home. That is the view that students at the Academy @ Shawnee envisioned as they explored, designed, and created an experiment that would ultimately be selected to fly on a NASA space shuttle mission. Student teams involved in the Student Spaceflight Experiment Program designed an experiment like real scientists, with real constraints imposed by the experimental apparatus, current knowledge, and the environment in which the experiment was to be constructed. Simultaneously, teachers at the Academy @ Shawnee built relationships with national/state science experts and local universities, pursued funding for the project, and laid the groundwork for future projects. The experiment "Effect of Microgravity on the Viability of Lactobacillus GG" flew in a mini-laboratory aboard STS-134, the final flight of Space Shuttle Endeavour. "Imagine" that!
 

Creative Technology with At-Risk Teens (CTART)

Maryhurst

Mari Renn, Jill Tabor

"Imagine" a nontraditional approach for teaching core content connections to at-risk teens through the use of technology and the arts. For the last four years, Maryhurst School, a residential treatment facility for girls in grades seven through twelve, has embedded differentiated instructional strategies into the areas of writing, drama, visual arts, and media technology to increase core content mastery. The CTART model was designed to develop student confidence and pride while developing lifelong learners who can creatively adapt to a variety of situations. The program embodies the twenty-first century skills of increasing student mastery of core academic subjects through a multidisciplinary approach.

Healthy Foods, Helping Hands

Dawson Orman Early Childhood Center

Joyce Saltsman, Tausha Burage, Natalie Gray, Mary Smith

It is not a "figment of your imagination." Three- and four-year-old students at the Dawson Orman Early Childhood Center can be seen learning about healthy food choices, living healthier lifestyles, making economic decisions, and experiencing the affective rewards of giving to others. Preschool teachers at the center have created an in-depth, yet age-appropriate, unit of study on nutrition and its impact on families living in their community. This project-based unit, based on the CARE for Kids Program and Second Step curriculum, included field experiences at the local supermarket where students practiced making healthy choices. Their purchases were then shared with other children and their families during a visit to Scholar House. The teachers and students at Dawson Orman truly believe that it is better to give than to receive!
 

Cardinal Chef

Gutermuth Elementary

Todd Henderson

Is it Emeril Lagasse? Is it Guy Fieri? Is it Bobby Flay? No, it is Chef Todd Henderson appearing on the televisions and computers of JCPS. His interactive podcast show, The Cardinal Chef, is filmed every Thursday morning by the student videographers at Gutermuth Elementary. It can be accessed at www.cardinalchef.com by parents and students from home and at school. Student participants in the 30-minute broadcast are engaged in tasting new dishes and sharing healthy recipes. Via the Web site, viewers provide feedback on each episode. The podcast has been recognized by the The Courier-Journal, the Wayne Perky Show, and Sizzle magazine. The project collaborates with Sullivan University and was recently awarded the Chefs Move! award from a project started by First Lady Michelle Obama. One can only "imagine" the premiere of The Cardinal Chef on the Food Network.

"What If" Art, Writing, and Technology Contests

 

Preschool

First Place: Jerrica Miller

Title: Imagine … if I lived at the zoo!
School: Detrick/McFerran Early Childhood Program
Teacher: Frances Ewing Morton
image  

Elementary: Kindergarten Through Grade Two

First Place: Destiny Walker

Title: Imagine … there really was a horse of a different color!
School: Roosevelt-Perry Elementary
Teacher: Rick Ward
image  

Elementary: Grades Three Through Five

First Place: Sameer Rhodes

Title: Imagine … someone to guide you your entire life!
School: Roosevelt-Perry Elementary
Teacher: Rick Ward
image  

Middle School

First Place: Lily Wilding

Title: Imagine… if every room was as cool as my art room!
School: Barret Traditional Middle School
Teacher: Margi Garcia
image  

High School

First Place: Rachel Doda

Title: Imagine… what a single line can become!
School: DuPont Manual High School
Teacher: Julie Tallent
 

Middle School/High School 3D

First Place: MacKenzie First

Title: Imagine… a "purr-fect" treasure!
School: Highland Middle School
Teacher: Tammy Podbelsek

Young Entrepreneurs

 

The Gheen Institute for Innovation is proud to honor Shelby D. Ford and Cydney Pepper as 2011 Young Entrepreneurs. Both students attended Indian Trail Elementary and are now sixth graders at Thomas Jefferson Middle School and Newburg Middle School. Through participating in the microsociety magnet program at Indian Trail, Shelby created a bicycle shop that was an extension of his passion for repairing bicycles. His initial shop that was started in his home. Cydney developed the most popular entrepreneurial venture by opening a nail salon at the school. Congratulations to our young entrepreneurs!

Shelby D. Ford

  
 
 

Cydney Pepper