Elva de Baca
Bilingual Third Grade Teacher
Sunset Elementary School
San Ysidro, CA
Biographical Information:
Elva de Baca teaches a bilingual third-grade class at Sunset Elementary School in San Ysidro, a town that sits on the border between California and Mexico. A native Spanish speaker, Ms. de Baca promotes biliteracy among a student population whose needs and economic challenges she understands all too well, having herself grown up in poverty in nearby Tijuana. Despite these difficult conditions, Ms. de Baca has long encouraged her students to see their classroom as an environment in which they could take pride and ownership. Assisted each day by a bilingual teaching assistant, Ms. de Baca uses music, math manipulatives, technology, and small group instruction to improve student learning. She has consistently raised student scores on English-language assessments, and her students often perform higher than other third graders in fluency, comprehension, and writing on state tests. Her work has helped transform Sunset Elementary into a state-of-the-art campus.
Jennifer Smith
Third Grade Teacher
Palm Vista Elementary School
Twentynine Palms, CA
Biographical Information:
From her regular students to those with disabilities, third-grade teacher Jennifer Smith helps everyone in her class improve academically at Palm Vista Elementary School in Twentynine Palms. Her students work as a whole group and in smaller groups, sharing literature through book clubs, read-alouds, and writing stations; frequently using math manipulatives; and regularly attending computer labs. Ms. Smith team-teaches descriptive writing based on lessons she developed, and generates excitement about books by acting out characters as she reads to her students. As a result of her effective instruction, Ms. Smith’s students have consistently scored in the top percentile of the district on assessments, with most scoring proficient or basic. A teacher leader, she is chair of both the Program Quality Review Committee and the Student Consultation Team (SCT), and is one of two teachers selected by her principal to participate in the Elementary Leadership Academy, a monthly meeting of principals, teacher leaders and assistant superintendents.
Kim Tredick
Fifth Grade Teacher
Sulphur Springs Community School
Canyon Country, CA
Biographical Information:
Kim Tredick’s fifth-grade classroom at Sulphur Springs Community School in Canyon Country is known throughout the district as a model for differentiated instruction. As the Gifted and Talented Education (GATE) site coordinator, Ms. Tredick makes learning objectives clear to all of her students and constantly monitors their progress with frequent formal and informal assessments to identify specific learning needs. Based on input from school and district psychologists, Ms. Tredick designed "Let's Play," a skills-based program of social interaction for students with special needs such as Asperger's syndrome and autism. She plays a key role in the school’s Young Authors Conference, which rewards and showcases student writing in front of family and friends. The school’s GATE students consistently score between 95 to 100 percent in all content areas, with more than two-thirds of Ms. Tredick’s students scoring proficient or advanced. She played an instrumental role on a committee to help the district adopt a standards-based report card. Her own report card is full of high marks and excellent achievements.
