Atlanta, Gwinnett elementary school teachers win $25,000 awards

By Shane Blatt and Kristina Torres

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

As a child, Rachel Willis went the extra mile to earn a better education. So did Kelly Stopp, who forged ahead despite difficulty in reading, even learning.

On Monday, Willis, a third-grade teacher in Atlanta, and Stopp, a second-grade reading specialist in Norcross, were hailed as the crème de la crème of teaching, capturing prestigious Milken Educator Awards before surprise schoolwide assemblies.

Willis and Stopp were among 55 educators picked nationwide for the award, what some have dubbed the Oscars of teaching. With it comes a $25,000 no-strings-attached prize.

Delivering the good news at both schools Monday were Lowell Milken, chairman and co-founder of the Milken Family Foundation, and Georgia Schools Superintendent Brad Bryant.

The awards are given to early- to mid-career educators with strong potential for leadership; show exceptional talent and student achievement; and have garnered educational accomplishments beyond the classroom.

‘I just feel so blessed‘

In Atlanta, Morningside Elementary School teacher Willis burst into tears as students jumped to their feet and cheered. A gaggle of Willis’ students raced to embrace her in a group hug.

“I know every one of us deserved this,” she said of her colleagues, who also gave her a standing ovation. “I just feel so blessed.”

At the assembly, Willis smiled quietly to herself as Milken talked about the enthusiasm, leadership and dedication of an as-yet-unnamed teacher.

She never thought he was talking about her. Instead, she remembered her own education at Atlanta's Grady High School and Inman Middle School.

“When I was a child, I had to drive past a lot of schools to get to a school where I knew I would get a good education,” Willis said afterward. The experience, she said, gave her a belief that all children deserved “an equal-opportunity education.”

Willis graduated from Smith College in 2004 thinking she wanted a career in government. To get started, she joined Teach for America, which places recent college graduates and professionals in low-income communities to teach for two years.

That experience gave her a calling, she said.

At Morningside, Willis is known for creating elaborate “virtual” field trips, such as decorating her classroom to look like the Forum for a unit on democracy in ancient Greece.

She was the school’s first teacher to apply for an interactive whiteboard, and then she successfully lobbied to get them into all second- through fifth-grade classrooms.

Officials could document students in her class who started the year reading on a first-grade level, then caught up to their grade level by year’s end.

All of Willis’ students last year passed their state-mandated exams in reading, English/language arts and math.

That track record earned her the city’s Elementary Teacher of the Year last year. Still, Willis did not imagine a further honor awaited her Monday.

When Milken called her name, she sat stunned, then slowly rose to cheers.

She could not imagine what she would do with the money.

Then, almost sheepishly, she admitted she might use some of it to help pay off student loans: She graduated this summer with a master’s in educational leadership from Columbia University.

‘The right job for me'

In Norcross, Stopp put her hands to her mouth and whispered "Oh my God" before jumping to her feet and making her way to the microphone at Meadowcreek Elementary School.

"I'm honestly speechless," she told smiling students and fellow teachers. "I just want to say ... I can't do this without my school. You keep me going."

Fellow educators say it's Stopp, an eight-year educator, who keeps them going. They cite her collaborative teaching style, pep-rally spirit and inventive methods in the classroom.

Inventive indeed.

To aid student learning, the 32-year-old Stopp pulls in poetry, theater and songbooks. She creates book clubs and tracks student progress with spreadsheets. She organizes an annual literacy night to strengthen parent-to-child literacy at home.

More than 90 percent of Stopp's students -- 68 percent of whom are ELL (English Language Learners) -- passed the second-grade reading portion of the Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests.

Last year, Stopp devised a plan to merge two book rooms while implementing a checkout system. Now classes from all grade levels come to her for instruction and to peruse row after row of books stacked neatly from floor to ceiling.

Reading, even learning, didn't always come easily for Stopp. Growing up in Mason, Ohio, Stopp said she was slow at comprehending. Making matters worse, she said, she had a few lackluster teachers and was often compared with her older sister, a straight-A student.

"I was never diagnosed with any reading difficulty," Stopp said. "I just always struggled with reading. I had difficulty spelling and writing."

Unsure of a career path, Stopp in high school decided to job-shadow as a teacher.

"I never had this profession in mind, but it was so much fun I wanted to make it my career," she said.

A Meadowcreek teacher for five years, she is currently working on a doctorate in reading education from Nova Southeastern University.

Stopp plans to use the Milken money to develop a literacy program at a nearby apartment complex where a majority of Meadowcreek's students live.

"A lot of our students are transient and lower economic status. They don't have the money to spend on literacy tools," she said. "We want to get books into their home ... ones they can call their own so they can actually love learning before they get to our school."