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Pioneer Middle School Teacher Jennifer Smith Surprised with $25,000 Milken Educator Award

2013 California “Oscar of Teaching” presented by Milken Family Foundation Chairman and Co-Founder Lowell Milken and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson

November 20, 2013

This morning’s assembly at Pioneer Middle School in the Tustin Unified School District became the surprise of a lifetime for Jennifer Smith, a science and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) teacher, when Milken Family Foundation Chairman and Co-Founder Lowell Milken announced her name as the 2013 California Milken Educator Award winner. Today’s Award, one of up to 40 to be given in 2013, will be the only one presented in California.

One of education’s most prestigious recognitions, the Award comes with a no-strings-attached cash prize of $25,000. This exceptional educator experienced a fanfare typically reserved for all-star athletes and award-winning entertainers when she was honored in front of more than 1,300 cheering students and colleagues, as well as special guests including State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson.

“Our public education system is at the heart of America’s promise and essential to safeguarding the American dream for future generations,” said Lowell Milken, chairman and co-founder of the Milken Family Foundation.  “With research confirming that effective teachers represent the single most important school-related factor in raising student achievement, it is important to honor them, learn from them, and inspire more capable people to enter the profession.  As the program’s motto extols, the future belongs to the educated.”

About the Award Recipient

Jennifer Smith’s interest-based teaching methods challenge students at Pioneer Middle School in Tustin, California to organize their thoughts, problem solve and then evaluate their decisions or findings. In addition to incorporating technology into her students’ daily activities, Smith embraces the blended learning concept of the “flipped” classroom. With this approach, students watch video lectures (usually at home) and then complete what traditionally would be called homework during class. In this way, she is able to offer more personalized guidance to her students, realizing an estimated 20 percent increase in student achievement for those participating in her flipped lessons.

Smith has always believed in teaching literacy alongside the sciences, emphasizing the connections between math and science, science and technology and why literacy is vital to success – not just at school, but throughout life. To expose her students to a variety of STEM-related careers, she invites parents who are professionals in those fields to speak to her class. Thanks to this strong educational foundation, a large number of Smith’s students have enrolled in the area high schools’ Green Engineering or T-Tech Engineering Academies, and have received college scholarships.

She’s been involved in numerous school and district committees, such as the Distinguished School Committee, the Schools-to-Watch Committee and the Science Achievement Committee.  Additionally, she has been instrumental in developing science and STEM-focused strategic plans. This work has helped the District receive three grants, as well as garner strong interest in advancing the District’s STEM program from prestigious organizations, including the Smithsonian, Beckman Foundation and Science@OC.

Smith was selected by the Tustin Unified School District to represent their STEM program at the Smithsonian Science Strategic Planning Institute in Washington, D.C. When Pioneer School needs someone to give the TUSD Board of Education a teacher’s perspective, Smith is their go-to choice. “Jennifer Smith is a role model in our school district and the education profession. Her unwavering commitment to provide an excellent educational experience for every student inspires, instructs and informs us all,” said Tustin Unified School District Superintendent Dr. Gregory Franklin. 

Details

The Milken Educator Awards, conceived by Lowell Milken to attract, retain and motivate outstanding talent to the teaching profession, is the nation’s preeminent teacher recognition program, dubbed the “Oscars of Teaching” by Teacher Magazine. Since 1987, the Milken Family Foundation, co-founded by Michael and Lowell Milken, has devoted more than $136 million in funding to the Milken Educator Awards, including over $64 million in individual Awards to nearly 2,600 recipients plus powerful professional development opportunities and networking with leading education stakeholders. 

California Milken Educators

California joined the Milken Educator Awards program in 1987.
$3,525,000 cash awards have been presented to 135 California Milken Educator Award recipients.

For More Information

Milken Educator Awards Website: www.MilkenEducatorAwards.org
California Department of Education Website: http://www.cde.ca.gov/
Tustin Unified School District Website: www.tustin.k12.ca.us
Milken Family Foundation Website: www.mff.org
Follow the Awards on Twitter, YouTube and Facebook.

For more information, visit our Media Kit page.

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Education reform leader Lowell Milken created the Milken Educator Awards to recognize exemplary teachers and established the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching (NIET) to generate more talented teachers, www.niet.org. NIET operates TAP: The System for Teacher and Student Advancement and the Best Practices Center. Lowell Milken recently provided the founding gift for the UCLA School of Law’s Lowell Milken Institute for Business Law and Policy. For more information about Lowell visit www.lowellmilken.com.

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