Brighton High School science teacher Sarah Carlson soon will have a chance to share her innovative ideas about education with the rest of the country as a Teacher Fellow with the Hope Street Group.
Carlson is one of 13 educators nationwide to be chosen to represent Utah in the National Teacher Fellows Program with the Hope Street Group. She and other Teacher Fellows will share ideas, focus on teacher effectiveness and advocate for education policy changes on a national platform.
“Teachers are in the trenches day in, day out; even when we’re not teaching, we’re thinking about teaching or thinking of ways to inspire our students,” Carlson said about her appointment to the program. “That firsthand knowledge is invaluable and necessary for improving our students’ education experiences.”
Educators in the Hope Street Group Teacher Fellows Program are expected to spend 15-20 hours a month meeting with local, state and federal policymakers, presenting teacher-generated solutions, exploring reform efforts and serving as local spokespeople for teachers’ ideas and perspectives, according to the Hope Street Group, a non-profit organization that focuses on national issues like education.
“With improved educator effectiveness systems, implementation of rigorous college-and career-ready standards, and the need for better professional learning, such teacher input has never been more important,” said Hope Street Group Vice President of Education Dan Cruce. “Our National Fellows stand ready to meet this need … in the best interest of our students.”
This is not the first time Carlson has been acknowledged for her accomplishments. In 2012, she gained attention for her unique approach to teaching in a “flipped” classroom, where students listen to lectures at home and work on homework problems at school. She also received a Canyons School District Education Foundation Innovation Grant for $10,000 to acquire iPads and other software to enhance her classroom. In 2013, she earned a grant for $5,800 from Nu Skin for her work with Brighton FIRST Robotics.
