GLENDALE—Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced the appointment of 15 teachers as Teaching Ambassador Fellows for the 2010-11 school year on Monday, July 26. Glendale Unified School District’s Edit Khachatryan will serve as one of the five selected teachers to work full-time at the headquarters.
“The Teaching Ambassador Fellows will offer invaluable contributions to the Department’s work to support reform in states and communities,” Duncan said. “They are the voice of teachers in the Department and truly act as ambassadors to teachers, students and parents across the country.” Five of the selected teachers will become full-time employees at Education Department headquarters in Washington, D.C. and the others will continue as full-time teachers while working as fellows part time.
Now in its third year, the Teaching Ambassador Fellowships were created to give outstanding teachers an opportunity to participate in policy development and to contribute their expertise to those discussions. Fellows, in turn, share what they’ve learned about federal initiatives with other teachers in their districts and states, encouraging broader input into efforts to improve education at all levels of government. The 2010-2011 fellows join a network and continue to work with the Department’s 38 previous fellows from the first two years of the program.
The 15 new fellows are participating in a four-day summit that began on Monday, July 26 at department headquarters where they are learning about the Department’s programs as well as its priorities for the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. They will also begin their year-long dialogue with Secretary Duncan and other department leaders about school and classroom practices that advance learning and student achievement.
Edit Khachatryan was selected from 500 applications from teachers and instructional specialists at charter and traditional public schools. Applicants from across the country, at every grade level and instructional area in urban, rural, and suburban schools submitted essays about their record of leadership, their impact on student achievement, and their insight into educational policy from school and classroom experience.
