Core Knowledge Teachers Honored Around the Country
Scottsdale, Arizona
Elie Gaines, second grade teacher and Core Knowledge Coordinator at Pinnacle Peak Elementary School in Scottsdale, received a National Educator Award from the Milken Family Foundation. The award was presented last October in the school cafeteria. When the gigantic facsimile of a $25,000 check was presented by Lowell Milken and board member Rosey Grier of football fame, 900 students and teachers cheered as Ms. Gaines made her way to the podium in disbelief. She found herself for the first time speechless, according to an article in the Arizona Republic.
The awards, fondly known the Oscars of teaching, are part of an effort by the Milken Foundation to correct a flaw in the national culture — the undervaluing of its most important profession — teaching. This year the Foundation will give $2.5 million in cash awards to 100 schools across the nation. Elie may have expressed disbelief at receiving this honor, but we at the Core Knowledge Foundation are not in the least surprised. We have watched her good work as a Core Knowledge Coordinator for many years and heartily agree with her Principal Sam Cianfarano who called her a “master teacher” and a wise selection by the Foundation.
Congratulations, Elie!
Corvallis, Oregon
The year got off to a good start for five teachers who in September received the Golden Apple Award in the Corvallis School District, including Core Knowledge teacher, Jennifer England of Franklin 
Elementary School. Jennifer has been teaching for 30 years, 18 of them in the Corvallis District. According to the Corvallis Gazette-Times, she has been recognized as an outstanding mentor-teacher by the teacher education programs at Oregon State University and Western Oregon University. The Core Knowledge Foundation has recently selected Jennifer as a coordinator and hopes that her role in professional development workshops will inspire others to the kind of instructional creativity for which she is being honored in her own district. The Golden Apple Award, sponsored by local businessman and trustee of the public school foundation, Mario Pastega, carries a cash award of $623 and, famously, a loaf of Mario’s homemade bread.
In presenting the award, Foundation Director Laverne Pitts cited Jennifer’s ability to transform her classroom into an exciting place for learners, noting especially her unit on the medieval times. This will have a familiar ring to followers of the Core Knowledge curriculum. Onward, Jennifer.