The Fund for CLI’s Future [1], an evening reception, was held at WHYY on June 27, 2012.
The reception was a combination of conversation between friends of CLI, Board members, district leaders, principals, teachers and staff and a brief program to honor our Founder Emeritus, Linda Katz and CLI Model ClassroomTM Teacher of the Year Award winners.
Linda Katz retired in the summer of 2011 after serving for 23 years as CLI’s Executive Director. Under Linda’s leadership, CLI become a national leader in providing evidence-based professional development, children’s literature and classroom materials to pre-kindergarten through third-grade teachers. Today, we are serving more schools, educators and students than ever before.
We at CLI know how much teachers matter and that investing in teachers is the number one in school factor to improve student outcomes and to honor Linda’s legacy we honored four CLI Model ClassroomTMTeachers from each of our key regions. In addition to demonstrating a classroom with CLI’s effective practices in classroom culture and literacy environment, the selected teachers also proved to be significant contributors in their school or district’s professional learning community. The winners, nominated by colleagues and principals, submitted videos [1] to further demonstrate their growth and transformation as a CLI Model ClassroomTMTeacher and the subsequent impact on their students.
Linda’s vision for the organization was grounded in respect for teachers, the work that they do and in conviction that educators deserve access to resources and support needed to successfully teach children to read and write. Today, 23 years later, we continue Linda’s vision by launching CLIcompass.org [2] an online professional development resource that empowers teachers to guide students toward greater literacy success. CLI Compass [3]provides teachers with access to classroom tested instructional literacy practices, personalized action plans and integrated tools to improve pre-kindergarten to third-grade outcomes. [4]
As the evening came to a close, it was apparent that all were united in CLI’s mission and were proud to be a partner building on the strengths of teachers to create sustainable change.
Here are additional highlights [1] from this event including: photo gallery and CLI Model ClassroomTM Teacher of the Year Award Winner video submissions.
Please check back in the upcoming weeks for additional posts about CLI’s 2012 National Conference!
Kelly Hunter, Ed.D., CLI Executive Director, Linda Katz, CLI Founder Emeritus
and Pat Federman, CLI Co-Founder
Philadelphia's CLI Model Classroom Teacher of the Year Award
presented to Kelly Snyder by Ami Patel,Policy Advisor Mayor's Office
Chicago's CLI Model Classroom Teacher of the Year Award
presented to Elizabeth Rickey
Newark's CLI Model Classroom Teacher of the Year Award
presented to Lenore Furman by Roger Leon, Newark Public Schools