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A Decade After It Promised to Reinvent Teacher Prep, Relay Is Producing a Much-Needed, More Diverse Teaching Corps

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A s far as he was concerned, Harrison Gaskins wasn’t a teacher.

It was the 2017-18 school year, and he was a paraprofessional at KIPP Vision Primary, a charter elementary school in Atlanta. He worked one-on-one with a student, and he did it well. Then, during his first year, Gaskins’s colleagues named him Teacher of the Month.

The accolade got Gaskins thinking, and soon his supervisor was encouraging him to get his master’s degree and become a classroom teacher, a possibility that hadn’t crossed his mind back when he was a student.

“I only remember four male teachers and none of them were black, none of them looked like me, so I never even thought, ‘I can do this,’” Gaskins said.

Gaskins enrolled in the Relay Graduate School of Education as part of a low-cost, two-year residency program intended to help people who already work in schools, career changers and recent college graduates become classroom teachers. Since its launch less than a decade ago, Relay has had success rare among graduate schools of education in recruiting teaching candidates of color and male and black male candidates in particular. Nearly 10 percent of Relay’s students are black men, for example, five times the percentage of such teachers nationally.

Gaskins said the program helped him work through feeling “intimidated” and “a little fearful” about attending graduate school.

“The intentionality of explaining how much they invest in you as an individual” made a difference, he said. “I really felt security in the amount of support that I had.”

Since launching nearly a decade ago, Relay has seen its enrollment soar from about 290 to more than 4,000, plus an additional 1,300 school leaders, while expanding from one location to 19 nationwide. All the while, Relay has targeted its recruitment among undergraduate students, race-based student groups and mid-career professionals to ensure some of the most racially diverse groups of faculty and students among graduate schools of education across the country. Forty-five percent of Relay’s faculty identify as non-white, compared with 24 percent at postsecondary institutions nationwide, and 66 percent of its students identify as people of color, compared with 25 percent of students in postsecondary teacher preparation programs nationwide.

The groundwork for Relay was laid in 2007 by founding president Norman Atkins, who also started the Uncommon Schools network of charter schools. The program incubated at Hunter College as Teacher U, and then, in 2011, it became the first stand-alone graduate school of education in New York state to open in more than 80 years. From the beginning, it was poised to offer a radically different graduate school experience for prospective educators. As a New York Times story described at the time, Relay would have “no courses,” “no campus” and “no lectures.”

Relay’s focus was on helping its part-time graduate students — many of whom were full-time classroom teachers through Teach for America and other alternative teacher training programs — support the students in front of them each day. Accordingly, the Relay program emphasized practical, actionable skills to support classroom management and student engagement, not content knowledge or instructional theories, as is more common in traditional teacher preparation programs.

Relay now recruits a wider range of students and, at least according to one measure, provides them with top-notch preparation. The National Council on Teacher Quality, which has been critical of the quality of the vast majority of teacher preparation programs (and received criticism in turn), ranks Relay in the 94th percentile nationwide.

Rob Rickenbrode, who until recently oversaw the organization’s rankings, said Relay has managed to control for quality as it has served more and more graduate students. In 2017-18, nearly 1,000 students earned a certificate or a master’s degree from Relay.

“They’ve been able to keep a very tight hold as they’ve expanded and do a really excellent job in their student-teaching experience,” he said.

Yet Relay’s attempt to rethink the graduate school of education experience has also attracted scorn. More than half of the teacher preparation programs in New York City tried to block Relay from opening back in 2011 , arguing in part that it would increase competition. And Relay’s close ties to charter schools — KIPP and Achievement First were also involved in its founding, and their leaders sit on Relay’s board — have also attracted criticism.

Ken Zeichner, a professor emeritus of education at the University of Washington, has long questioned the quality of graduate schools of education generally and Relay in particular. He’s opposed Relay’s reliance on Teach Like a Champion , the book of teaching techniques authored by Doug Lemov of Uncommon Schools, and what he described as Atkins’s “demonization of university [led] teacher preparation.”

Within the past year, Zeichner said, he met with Mayme Hostetter, who became Relay’s president in 2018, and says he has seen progress, but he remains concerned about the lack of empirical evidence of the program’s effectiveness. The page on Relay’s website dedicated to “Impact,” for instance, cites figures such as the percentage of graduates over the past six years who stay in the classroom as teachers (more than two-thirds) and the nearly 90 percent of alumni who say Relay increased their likelihood of remaining in the classroom.

Zeicher said his criticism also applies to the diverse students whom Relay recruits.

“They need to be able to show, not just that 60 percent of their teachers identify as people of color, but what happens to them,” Zeichner said. “If they can show that they can prepare people of color who can be retained [as classroom teachers], I think that’s a positive thing and we need to learn from that.”

Zeichner’s openness to learn from Relay on this front stems in part from the paucity of racial and gender diversity among candidates in a field where 77 percent of teachers are women and 80 percent are white. Research shows that students are less likely to drop out of school and more likely to aspire to go to college, among other effects, when their teachers look like them. This is especially true for black male students, even if they have just one black male teacher. The issue has attracted attention from 2020 presidential candidates; Sen. Kamala Harris said at the September debate that she would invest $2 billion in teacher prep programs at historically black colleges and universities, if elected.

In an interview, Hostetter, who started as a founding Relay staff member, said having diverse faculty and students was all the institution has ever known, and attributed that to its roots in New York City and its primarily serving urban school districts. Yet there’s more to Relay’s success with diversity. According to data from the U.S. Department of Education , Relay has greater racial and gender diversity than its primary teacher preparation peers in New York City, such as Bank Street College, Fordham University, Teachers College and Hunter College.

Hostetter said Relay has concentrated more in recent years on both faculty and graduate student diversity. Many of the deans at Relay’s campuses in places like Connecticut, Louisiana and Houston are people of color, and Hostetter said having such representation at the staff levels and beyond can produce a virtuous cycle.

“One thing I’m proud of [that] we’ve done at Relay over the last decade, from our inception really, is to show people what great teachers look like, whether that’s in videos or the faculty member in front of their classroom or meeting on their campus,” said Hostetter, who formerly taught at KIPP, among other schools. “We are showing people that great teachers are not just 80 percent white women. I think there’s a huge diversity in the group of people who are excellent teachers in this country. So I think when you show people who great teachers are, what great teachers look like, and then you ask them to join their ranks, you are making a pretty compelling invitation.”

Formally making the invitation to potential recruits are Alia McCants and her eight-person national recruitment team. Most of the team concentrates on particular regions of the country, and they keep an eye on mid-career professionals like Gaskins who are already in education but not leading classrooms (and are more likely to be non-white and bilingual), a strategy known as district in-reach. In addition, two team members focus on historically black colleges and universities like Dillard University and Morehouse College, while one works with Hispanic-serving institutions.

At all colleges, McCants said, the goal is to recruit students before they reach their senior year. Her team is interested in all majors — students studying communications and psychology would “make great teachers,” she said; “they just don’t know it yet” — and partners with specific student groups, like black student unions. They aim to compel the students to go into education and, ideally, attend Relay. McCants said her team is candid with prospective candidates about race and the benefits of attending a program with a diverse student body.

“There’s something about going through the residency [with a group of students who may share parts of your identity],” McCants remembers telling two black men who are teaching this year in New Orleans. “Even if you’ll be the only [black man] in your school, you won’t be the only one in your program, and especially if you’re coming from an HBCU, that’s a very comforting feeling. You’re never alone.”

Such support was reassuring, said Gaskins, the kindergarten teacher. The first topics he and his classmates studied as Relay students were not instructional strategies but sensitive subjects like race and socioeconomic status. He said students gathered in groups based on similar race and gender to discuss their motivations for teaching. Once the different groups shared their takeaways with one another, Gaskins said, they realized how much they had in common.

These types of experiences helped Gaskins believe he chose the right program, one that will help prepare him to make teaching his career. His path to the classroom was not linear — he previously worked as a behavior specialist at a program for at-risk youth, which he described as “dark” — but as he looks back, Gaskins thinks his past helped pave the way to his future.

“It kind of reminds me of Lion King ,” Gaskins said, invoking his favorite movie. “Simba, he had all the potential to be king, but he had to go off and live with Timon and Pumbaa for a little while before he came back. So that’s what I feel like, maybe I had to go out and do some other things before I could really take care of Pride Rock.”

Disclosure: The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation provide financial support to Relay Graduate of Education and The 74 .

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Mercedes Schneider: Former DC Principal, Director Sue DCPS for Firings Related to Relay GSE Concerns

Two former employees of the DC school system were fired for raising questions about a plan to impose Relay Graduate School [sic] programs on the school. Now they’re suing. Mercedes Schneider has the story. Reposted with permission.

Below are excerpts fron a lawsuit put forth by two former employees of DC’s Boone Elementary School, who took issue with DC Public Schools (DCPS) higher admin wishing to impose controversial scripted and harsh practices at the direction of the so-named  Relay Graduate School of Education  (“graduate school” as a brand name and worth as much as my legally changing my own name to “Mercedes Schneider, MD” to deceptively promote the idea that I practice medicine).

Former Boone principal, Carolyn Jackson-King, repeatedly voiced her concerns about DCPS pooling lower-income, predominately Black schools under the jurisdiction of Relay and the fact that the administrator overseeing this requirement was formerly with “no excuses” KIPP schools (as in  highly-scripted conformity  at the expense of developing critical thinking and self-value for low-income students). Jackson-King even collected data to support no need for this concocted “Relay remediation” plan for Boone students, to no avail. Within one year, she was brought from being a principal deemed worthy of mentoring others to one released from her duties as principal and given the lowest rating of her career.

Fellow Boone employee and director of strategy and logistics, Marlon Ray, was arguably singled out and punitively required to work in person throughout the pre-vaccination period of COVID and later terminated due to “reduction in force” after he filed a 2020 whistleblower suit with the Office of Inspector General (OIG) about Relay, including contracts and payments under two distinct codings and that did not line up.

Jackson-King and Ray are suing DCPS and requesting a jury trial “to remedy the effects of the illegal conduct described [in the suit]” and to “award damages for back pay and other monetary losses” incurred by DCPS “[having] violated the provisions of District of Columbia law recited [in the suit].”

The lawsuit itself is 35 pages long and is posted at the end of this piece. I wish I could post the entire document as I believe it is worth a full read for its value on many fronts, including how those in education reform are able to all-too-quickly position themselves in upper administration and through their connections promote other entites selling ill-informed ideas that are contrary to sound educational practice; how such education businesses are often particularly positioned to prey on lower income students and students of color; how genuinely concerned, career-invested stakeholders are often wrongfully punished for voicing their concerns and seeking remedy (including being told that the issue should be kept “in house,” a strategy also often employed by domestic abusers), and how the underdog often has to pay out of pocket to seek relief in the courts.

First from the suit: background on Relay:

The Relay Graduate School of Education (“RGSE” “Relay GSE” or “Relay”) was founded by Hunter College Dean David Steiner, and charter school founders Norman Atkins of Uncommon Schools, Dacia Toll of Achievement First, and David Levin of KIPP charter schools in 2007. Initially named “Teacher U,” in 2012 Relay severed its relationship with Hunter College, rebranding itself as the Relay Graduate School of Education. This rebranding followed Steiner’s departure from Hunter College to become Commissioner of Education for New York State in 2009. As Commissioner, he led the New York State Board of Regents to “authorize an independent teacher preparation graduate school of education” where entities that were not institutions of higher educations were permitted to grant master’s degrees in the State of New York. Two years later, Steiner returned to his position at Hunter College, and remains a member of its Board of Trustees. During Steiner’s time as Commissioner, he supported the New York State Board of Regents granting a provisional charter to Relay on February 3, 2011, despite charges of conflicting interests. In New Jersey, Relay faced community concerns regarding its oversight, due to its attempts to usurp state requirements for teachers with what it deemed its “equivalent qualifications.” In Connecticut, Relay faced additional scrutiny, due to its connection to Toll. Toll’s Achievement First schools were the largest network of charter schools in Connecticut. With some schools featuring 96 – 99 percent Black and Hispanic students these schools were responsible for the state’s highest suspension and expulsion rates. Its curriculum has been criticized for “emphasizing methods that are reductive and control-oriented, rather than research-based and conducive to critical thinking.” Relay’s reductive view of teaching “emphasizes the kind of techniques shown to narrow the curriculum and adversely affect students’ socio-emotional development.” Such techniques follow “no credible research base to support its claims to effectiveness.” Meanwhile, its list of private partners and agenda “has typically worked against community interests and exacerbated inequities— draining resources from struggling districts, [and] deepening segregation.” Relay’s teachers are trained to “bark commands and questions” akin to a drill sergeant, and in one training video when a student “confuses the word ‘ambition’ with ‘anxious’ (an error that is repeated by a classmate), you know that is how he is feeling at the moment.” … Relay was first introduced in Washington, D.C. in 2017, with DCPS teachers beginning to attend RGSE training sessions at the end of the 2017-2018 school year.

Some background on Jackson-King, including her established career as a DCPS administrator:

Plaintiff Dr. Jackson-King began working for District of Columbia Public Schools in 1999. After a break in service, Dr. Jackson-King re-entered DCPS in 2005. Dr. Jackson-King was hired for her most recent role as School Principal at Lawrence E. Boone Elementary School in 2014. Prior to becoming principal, Dr. Jackson-King was the assistant principal and Dean of Students at Wheatley Education Campus for five years. During the 2017-2018 school year, Plaintiff Dr. Jackson-King was selected to be on the Chancellor Cabinet. Then, during the 2019-2020 school year, she was selected by DCPS to be a Principal Coach for principals who were new to the district or principalship. In her role as school principal, Plaintiff Dr. Jackson-King brought change in a myriad of ways. She worked closely with her school community to transition from the Orr building to the 51 million-dollar, newly constructed, and renamed, Lawrence E. Boone Elementary School, in Ward 8. Dr. Jackson-King redesigned the school day schedule, extending the school day and providing teachers with additional planning time. Lawrence E. Boone Elementary boasts some of the highest teacher retention rates in the district according to DCPS’ Spring INSIGHT survey (Spring 2019 Insight and Spring INSIGHT survey (Spring 2020 Insight). Talent development at the school not only developed teachers but also six paraprofessionals who were trained and promoted to the ranks of teacher. Lawrence E. Boone also had three team members who joined the team from the parent ranks, as Boone pushed to promote from within and retain its staff.

Now, a bit about Marlon Ray– including that his OIG complaint resulted in over $128K returned to the district:

Plaintiff Ray was first employed by DCPS in October 2002, and was most recently hired by DCPS at Lawrence E. Boone as the Director, Strategy & Logistics. Throughout his tenure, Ray has shown himself to be a loyal and dedicated employee, always keeping the best interest of DCPS children at the forefront of his work. Ray filed a whistleblower complaint with the D.C. Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) in August 2020 alleging that building contractors stole $128,219 in school supplies from Lawrence E. Boone Elementary School during the 2017-2018 school year. This in part, led to the retuning of this money in January 2020.

Here is where the problem enters in the form of a mandate delivered by DC deputy chancellor, Teach for America (TFA) alum and former KIPP chief academic officer,  Melissa Kim . At the time, Kim had been deputy chancellor for 10 months:

On June 6, 2019, Plaintiffs met with Deputy Chancellor Melissa Kim, amongst the principals of twenty-one (21) other D.C. Public Schools. The principals featured schools that were predominately in Wards 7 and 8 (Black communities with high poverty rates in Washington, D.C. ). Deputy Chancellor Melissa Kim had a significant relationship with KIPP prior to becoming Deputy Chancellor as she was the Chief Academic Officer of KIPP, and the director of the Instructional Improvement at New Schools Venture Fund. The latter is a venture philanthropy nonprofit that has raised money for DC Prep, KIPP DC, and a number of charter school networks operating in the District of Columbia. At this June 6 meeting, Deputy Chancellor Kim explained that these principals would be trained by the educational organization Relay. Further, she explained that these schools were being reorganized under the grouping of clusters with the pretext of supporting enrollment at feeder schools. The District of Columbia Public Schools contracted Relay GSE to coach school leaders and coaches in schools located specifically in Wards 7 and 8. … At the June 6 meeting, Dr. Jackson-King and several other principals were informed that they would be placed in the “RELAY cluster.” Concerned, Dr. Jackson-King continued to try and raise awareness regarding Relay’s practices and shortly thereafter contacted Instructional Superintendent (“IS”) Elizabeth Nambi. She had a call with Nambi on June 28, 2019. On this call, Dr. Jackson- King discussed her issues with Relay, and the racist overtones of homogenously clustering schools as a form of tracking. Likewise, she questioned Nambi on how elementary schools clustered together could help enrollment at the feeder middle and high school levels, especially since the elementary cluster schools do not engage with the feeder middle or high schools in a systematic way. Specifically, she doubted the reasoning behind this justification and additionally articulated her opposition to the way Relay was structured due to the program’s problematic behavioral management techniques. Moreover, Jackson-King expressed concerns that this program was being deliberately implemented to create a school to prison pipeline system for black and brown children. She felt that the lower income black students of D.C. were the experiments for a program that has not been proven to work anywhere. Part of Jackson-Kings’s concern were due to Deputy Chancellor’s Kim significant relationship with the KIPP organization prior to joining DCPS. … Still, her concerns went unheard.

Jackson-KIng’s second meeting with Nambi:

On August 21, 2019, Dr. Jackson-King met with IS Nambi about her reason for resistance to Relay. She described how Relay trains school leaders to implement techniques which they call Strong Start/Culture-behavior management techniques. Moreover, she articulated how Relay’s practices encouraged thecontrolling of Black children’s bodies with the “no excuses” mentality. Finally, she expressed that it was discriminatory for DCPS to have Relay only in schools that serve Black students in Black neighborhoods.

Jackson-King gathers data about the progress of slated “RELAY” schools:

On October 21, 2019, Dr. Jackson-King hosted the Cluster meeting for the principals in her group. The principals observed in classrooms and placed feedback on charts and sticky notes around their meeting room. All the feedback that was given by other DCPS principals was positive and constructive, therefore, Dr. Jackson-King understood that based on the knowledge of her colleagues at the time, their school was on track. As such, she had no indication that her school was in danger of falling behind other schools.

Jackson-King inquires about funds being used to pay for mandated Relay:

On October 24, 2019, Dr. Jackson-King spoke out on behalf of several principals at a meeting as a member of the Principal Retention Team. During the meeting she asked, “what happened to the money that some schools were given at the end of 2018?” Dr. Jackson-King was told by several principals that this money was allocated to services related to Relay. Again, on November 7, 2019, Dr. Jackson-King voiced concerns [presumably to Nambi] about Relay and the amount of money Defendant DCPS paid for Relay training. Dr. Jackson-King maintained that there was an issue with DCPS investing so heavily in an organization with foundational practices that were not in the best interest of children, specifically Black children.

Still concerned and unheard, Jackson-King seeks assistance from another DC upper-level administrator,  Corrine Colgan :

On November 19, 2019, during Leadership Academy, Dr. Jackson-King spoke with Corrine Colgan, DCPS Chief of Teaching and Learning about Relay’s discriminatory practices, Relay only being implemented in schools East of the Anacostia River and that Relay coaches were being utilized instead of the DCPS content specialists. Dr. Jackson-King’s apprehension was that teachers who worked in the Relay clusters were receiving scripted strict pedagogical techniques that are only used in D.C. schools that serve Black students and did not lead to quality training for teachers who teach students furthest from opportunity.

And here it comes:

On December 19, 2019 Dr. Jackson-King received a low evaluation, 2.75.  She reached out via email requesting a meeting with IS  (Instructional Superintendent)  Mary Ann Stinson to discuss the inaccuracies of the evaluation. On December 23, 2019, IS Stinson and Deputy Chief Holmes attended the ending of an Academic Leadership Team (ATL) meeting at Boone Elementary School focused on data analysis and Vocabulary. Despite being aware of Jackson-King’s concerns related to her unfair evaluation, they arrived 5 minutes before Dr. Jackson-King was to end the meeting. It was becoming apparent to Jackson-King that she would not have a fair chance to discuss her evaluation. After several attempts she was granted a meeting on January 25, 2020 to discuss her evaluation. Dr. Jackson-King was marked down in her evaluation due to her engagement in the protected activity of “Opposition” to discrimination. During her meeting she complained to several high-level district administrators that DCPS was engaging in prohibited discrimination by clustering schools that serve majority Black students from low-income households and forcing the schools to implement strategies from an organization that perpetuated the “school to prison” pipeline. …

With her career wrongfully jeopardized, Jackson-King continued to seek a listening ear for her concerns about Relay. Ray is also part of this effort:

On February 12, 2020, Mr. Ray and Dr. Jackson-King met with Ward 8 D.C. Councilmember Trayon White and his team member Wendy Glenn, about the concerns about Relay expressed by the parents and community of Lawrence E. Boone. As a result of the meeting, Councilmember White was to contact the Chancellor to see how he could support the school.

DCPS’s response: King-Jackson is micromanaged and relieved of her principalship:

From February through March 2020, Dr. Jackson-King began to experience intense micromanaging from IS Stinson in several areas. When Dr. JacksonKing checked in with colleagues, it became apparent that this was not happening to anyone else. On February 25, 2020, Dr. Jackson-King received an email invitation to a meeting with Deputy Chief of Elementary Schools Dr. Jeffrey Holmes and IS Mary Ann Stinson, that had no agenda. The meeting was held two days later on February 27, 2020.  There, IS Stinson stated that an IMPACT score of 2.7 was reflective of non-reappointment, and Dr. Jackson-King would not be reappointed to principalship due to performance.  … The next day, at a meeting on February 28, 2020… Dr. Holmes reprimanded and repeatedly questioned Dr. Jackson-King for speaking to D.C. Councilmember Trayon White. Dr. Holmes then directly stated that Dr. Jackson-King should not be discussing anything with external operators, stating ‘what happens in the house stays in the house’ or words closely to that effect. … On or about 06 July 2020, Dr. Jackson-King was demoted to Dean of Students. She was replaced as Principal by  Kimberly Douglas . (According to the suit, Jackson-King was later terminated.)

According to the lawsuit, Jackson-King’s efforts continue. (Please read full lawsuit for details.) These highlighted points are important to post:

At no point during this process did DCPS senior leadership question why a first year Instructional Superintendent was recommending a Principal Coach with an impeccable record for non-reappointment and dismissal.

On May 15, 2020, during a meeting with parents, teachers and community members who were upset by Dr. Jackson- King’s dismissal as Principal of Lawrence E. Boone, Dr. Jeffrey Holmes stated that DCPS does not subscribe to the culture and climate of practices for Relay.  However, after pressure from the panel, Dr. Holmes admitted that a few select schools implemented the Strong Start component of Relay. Furthermore, Dr. Holmes acknowledged that “there’s no data” when asked by Boone teachers if DCPS had data to show if Relay had successful outcomes within DCPS.

Following the details surrounding Jackson-King’s loss of principalship, the suit delineates Ray’s being singled out, as well:

Dr. Jackson-King was not alone in suffering retaliation for her actions regarding Relay, as Mr. Ray suffered as well. Principal Douglas (Jackson-King’s successor), despite the safety concerns of COVID-19, required Ray, of a school staff of 60+ employees, to be the only staff member working in- person 5 days a week. This continued from July 2020 through November 2020. Douglas herself worked from home all five days of the week, yet did not consider that due to Ray’s age (over 55) and underlying health conditions, he was at high risk for death if he contracted COVID-19. In support of his school community, and well within his rights, Ray participated in a peaceful protest on October 28, 2020. He stood in support with parents, Lawrence E. Boone teachers and students. The next day, at approximately 9:00 a.m., Ray was called to Douglas’s office. Upon entering, Ray was chastised and berated for his participation. Unable to manage her anger, Douglas began to yell irately at Ray, then swiftly departed from the school. Douglas did not use this aggressive tone or tactics with any of the other participants in this protest. During a leadership meeting in November 2020, Douglas announced the change to teleworking days, where she and two assistant principals would work inperson a couple of days a week to “support” Mr. Ray. Mr. Ray was not offered the opportunity to work any of his schedule virtually. This arrangement continued through February 5, 2021. On February 8, 2021, Douglas and two assistant principals began to work every day in person, just as Ray had been doing since the beginning of the school year. Just one week later, Douglas announced that she would be reinstituting telework days for herself and two assistant principals. She initially did not include Ray in such accommodations. Only after Ray objected did Douglas reluctantly agree to let him telework two days a week. Starting February 23, 2021, Ray began to telework from home two days a week. On March 12, 2021, while out sick awaiting the results of a COVID-19 test, Douglas called Ray to inform him that his position would not be included in their budget for the upcoming SY 21/22. During a virtual staff meeting on March 17, 2021, Ray informed the team that he would not be returning for SY 21/22. The next day, March 18, 2021, Douglas approached Ray in his office. She once again berated and yelled at Ray over his decision to inform staff of Douglas’ budgetary decision to eliminate Ray’s position. Three days later, on March 21, 2021, Ray was no longer allowed to work from home, after only 1 month of telework, and despite being in close contact with someone with COVID earlier that month. Despite the alleged reduction in force of Ray’s position, Director, Strategy and Logistics, on May 18, 2021 a Manager, Strategy and Logistics position at Boone ES was posted on the DCPS vacancy listings. On June 11, 2021, Plaintiff Marlon Ray was terminated via a letter notifying him that his position was eliminated as the result of a reduction in force.

Read the full suit, which includes more detail than I could post, including numerous footnotes.

How a jury would not find in favor of plaintiffs Jackson-King and Ray I am at a loss to imagine.

Readers wishing to comment on the content are encouraged to do so via the link to the original post.

Find the original post here:

An unconventional teacher-prep program on the rise in Philly

Relay Graduate School of Education, recently awarded a contract by Philadelphia schools, defines itself as a disruptor, dispensing with many traditional trappings of teacher prep. It has drawn sharp criticism in some education circles.

On a recent Wednesday evening, Leandra Handfield spent her graduate-school class practicing delivering an English lesson, fine-tuning it and getting feedback from professors and peers. The next morning, she taught it to her class of seventh graders at Mastery Charter Prep Middle School in North Philadelphia.

Welcome to Relay Graduate School of Education, a new and controversial kind of teacher-preparation program whose prominence is rising in the city. The School Reform Commission recently approved a $150,000 contract with Relay to train 20 teachers to work in the Philadelphia School District, and signaled that it wants to expand the partnership.

Relay has positioned itself as a disrupter. It has no buildings and few Ph.D.-level faculty. It de-emphasizes theory and academic research. It was founded by three charter-school networks in 2011 and is unaffiliated with any college or university.

"What sets us apart from other schools is there's a focus on practice," said Shemanne Davis, Relay Philadelphia & Camden's founding dean. "The 'why' is important, but what moves teachers is the 'how' - 'how do I do this and put it in practical terms?' "

Relay is interested, it declares on its website, in hiring those passionate "about revolutionizing how educators are prepared for long, successful careers in schools and classrooms."

Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. said choosing Relay will help Philadelphia schools attract more teachers who look like their pupils, a priority for the district, which is made up of 86 percent minority students but just 31 percent minority teachers. More than half of Relay's graduate students are teachers of color.

But critics say Relay's focus is too narrow, that it is too prescriptive, too focused on testing and preparing teachers for work in one kind of charter school only -- that it is more a training program than a graduate school.

SRC member Christopher McGinley, a former superintendent and current Temple University education professor, voted against awarding the contract to Relay, citing concerns with "the quality of services that they're known to provide." (Temple applied for the contract Relay was ultimately awarded, but McGinley said he was not aware that his employer applied to provide the services.)

Seton Hall University professor Daniel Katz, who studies new-teacher induction and chairs the education department, went a step further.

"What Relay is preparing people for is to work only within schools that operate on tightly  scripted curricula," Katz said. "They're not working to teach teachers to be flexible, professional enactors of curriculum, but to work within a set of instructional gimmicks."

In Philadelphia, 20 aspiring teachers -- men and women with bachelor's degrees but no teaching background -- will participate in a two-year program, working with a partner teacher in their first year and leading their own classroom in the second. They will emerge with a Pennsylvania state teaching credential.

Relay is authorized to grant degrees in nine states nationwide, but Pennsylvania is not one of them. It had applied for permission to offer degrees, and state officials at one point recommended that the application be denied, citing concerns about the academic qualifications of Relay's faculty,  and about its lack of a research component. Relay ultimately withdrew the application; Davis said it will eventually reapply.

Relay is expanding quickly, and though it still educates mostly charter teachers in urban areas, it aims to prepare teachers for work in all sectors. In addition to Philadelphia, it has contracts to train educators to work in traditional public schools in San Antonio and Denver.

Relay relies on a blended learning model; its students do about 40 percent of their work online and the rest in evening, weekend, and summer classes. It also keeps costs low. In Philadelphia, the district will pay Relay $7,500 per student annually.

"We don't spend a lot of money on facilities, and we don't have inflated faculty salaries, or administration salaries," said Davis. "We spend a lot of our money on curriculum design and improvement."

On a recent Wednesday, about 40 Relay students -- all working educators -- gathered at  Mastery Charter School-Pickett Campus in Germantown for a 90-minute session with three instructors. The group was diverse and young. The topic of the day was "closing" -- how to effectively wrap up a lesson -- and the class started with a mock lesson delivered by Sam Biddle, a Mastery teacher who is a Relay adjunct instructor.

Students consulted handouts while Biddle assumed the role of a fifth-grade teacher leading a class in writing persuasive essays. When Biddle wrapped up the short role-play, the graduate students jumped in: It was good that Biddle didn't do all the talking. Next time, the wrap-up should be shorter.

"Think about the lesson you're teaching today," Biddle said. "What are you going to do to keep it brief?"

Then, they split up into three groups for "scrimmages": The students practiced lessons on one another. There were finger snaps to indicate a point well-made. A faculty member stood nearby, holding a small clock and keeping time.

For Handfield, the new Mastery-Prep teacher and Relay student, the class was enormously helpful. Like many Relay students, she didn't head straight into the classroom after graduation.

Handfield, 29, looked at  more traditional graduate schools, but Relay sold her -- and not just because it has a partnership with Mastery, which subsidizes her tuition.

"Their values matched mine," said Handfield -- "prioritizing serving the most underserved learners, holding the bar high."

Neither Handfield nor her classmate Michelle Day, who works at St. Malachy's School in North Philadelphia, miss the more traditional hallmarks of education schools.

"As a first-year teacher, I need as much support as possible," said Day, 25.

Davis takes issue with the criticism of Relay as lacking educational quality. The school points to its 2014 New York master's degree graduates as an example of its results: over 90 percent of students of those 300 graduates demonstrated academic improvement, officials said. Broader data is not available because Relay is fairly new, they said.

Davis suggested that the criticism was linked to the fact that Relay prepares mostly minority teachers.

"We live in a world where we expect little of many people of color, but I do believe that teachers of color can do high-quality work," Davis said. "We are actively creating a space that is affirming for teachers of color."

Katz, the Seton Hall professor, agrees with many of the critiques Davis and others have of traditional schools of education: they do not train enough teachers of color, they do not forge enough community partnerships, he said.

Still, Relay isn't the fix, he said.

"We need to do better, but the model for doing better is going to be one that focuses on teachers being contemplative and reflective when they have space to grow over time," Katz said.

But Davis said that the Philadelphia school system will do well with Relay, and that although the teacher-prep program has focused on urban centers largely, it can and will go elsewhere.

"A teacher at Relay is far-better equipped to teach anywhere than any other teacher," Davis said. "It's just good teaching."

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Learning & Tech

Teacher training as 'part theater, part sport'.

Anya Kamenetz

Rain beats against the windows of a downtown New York City building on a soporific Friday morning. A high school teacher is reading out loud from a sample recommendation letter when she notices a few students fidgeting and texting.

"I'm not seeing all eyes ..." she says, her voice trailing off.

Naama Wrightman, who is coaching the teacher, jumps in.

"All right, pause. It's the right correction. How can you frame it positively? ... Take out the 'not.' "

"All eyes on me?"

"Exactly, give that quick scan again."

The teacher starts reading, pauses, looks around, and says, "All eyes on me, up here?" but it sounds more like a question.

"I'm going to pause you again," says Wrightman. "I want you to say it with that confidence."

"Up. Here."

"Yes, there it is!"

For student teachers in their first year at Relay Graduate School of Education, Friday mornings are all about sweating the small stuff — down to the intonation of a single word.

Relay set out nearly a decade ago to prepare a new generation of teachers for the nitty-gritty of the classroom in the way, critics have long charged, traditional graduate schools of education do not.

A now famous 2006 report found that 62 percent of new teachers said they didn't feel prepared for the reality of today's classrooms. Its author, Arthur Levine, was then president of Teachers College, Columbia University and became a member of Relay's board.

Focusing on that real-world preparation is what Relay's leaders say is fueling its growing popularity. "There are a lot of teachers, schools and districts hungry for a really practical approach to teacher prep," says the school's dean, Mayme Hostetter.

The school's goal is to provide "as authentic a practice experience" as possible, she adds.

At a time when enrollment in teacher-prep programs is declining — a factor in teacher shortages nationwide — Relay is marking a 40 percent increase year over year in its teacher and principal training programs. And it is expanding its geographic reach: This fall's teacher class has 2,000 students, most in New York and the rest spread over 12 sites from Newark to New Orleans. New this year are Denver; Nashville, Tenn.; Baton Rouge, La., and the school is seeking approval to open in California and Connecticut.

At a time of concern that the nation's teacher workforce is overwhelmingly white, Hostetter notes, Relay is dramatically more diverse than traditional teaching programs. In the 2015-16 school year, about two-thirds of Relay's candidates identified as people of color; by contrast, about 4 in 5 classroom teachers are white.

One factor that might make Relay attractive to a wider range of candidates is that students can earn a salary while studying. Plus, in some cities the AmeriCorps national service program will cover the cost.

Deliberate practice

Relay is part of a new generation of alternative certification programs, which are now preparing about 1 in 4 teachers. But it's no quickie bootcamp.

The school offers a one-year certificate and a two-year, part-time, regionally accredited master's degree in teaching.

Its curriculum has one guiding principle: practice, practice, practice.

"It's all about practice at the end of the day," says Wrightman, the director of Relay's New York City residency program. In her days as a teacher in Washington, D.C., and New York, she says, "I would have benefited tremendously from a practice-based approach and a residency program."

In their first year, Relay students are already in the classroom — as interns, paraprofessionals or assistants with provisional certification. By their second year, they are often the teachers of record.

But what, exactly, are they practicing?

Relay's curriculum starts with classroom management, before moving on to content-specific strategies. Students are assigned readings on cognitive science, design thinking, and culturally responsive teaching, and classics like Pedagogy of the Oppressed.

But the school's approach is most strongly identified with a controversial teaching method common to high-performing charter schools, based on Doug Lemov's book, Teach Like a Champion.

This is no coincidence. What is now called Relay was founded as Teacher U in 2007 by three prominent national charter school networks: Achievement First, KIPP and Uncommon Schools (where Lemov developed his method).

In 2011, Relay was relaunched as an independently accredited graduate school, and it has attracted funding from a long list of prominent philanthropies (two of which, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Walton Family Foundation, also support coverage of education at NPR).

The initial mission was primarily to prepare teachers for those founding charter networks, says Hofstetter. Though she says they have a goal of "working with more districts," only 16 percent of teacher candidates worked in district schools last year.

Lemov argues that teachers can close achievement gaps in high-need schools by following a fixed "taxonomy" of specific, concrete techniques. Teach Like A Champion has been both celebrated as highly effective classroom management and stigmatized as highly controlling "no excuses" teaching that produces higher test scores at the expense of emotional well-being.

In the three hours I spend with them on a Friday morning, the teaching students are concentrating on how to project a "Warm and Demanding" persona.

In one corner, an animated young woman is trying to teach the parts of the face in Spanish. Her fellow students, impersonating second graders, pull each other's hair and ask to go to the bathroom. Some have been given a back story to act out: " 'Dylan' and 'Cam' are having a particularly difficult day."

On the other side of the room, a middle school teacher uses the acronym "SLANT," common in KIPP classrooms, to prescribe students' postures : Sit up, Lean forward, Ask and answer questions, Nod your head and Track the speaker.

She gives "shine" — wiggling her fingers to the students who offer a right answer. At other times she moves in close to murmur a correction out of earshot of the other students. Or she even does it silently, with a hand on a student's shoulder or back. All these techniques are taught at Relay.

"I'm going to give you a couple of pushes," says her coach, using the school's jargon for critique. "... Make sure you are teaching from different points of the room. Make sure your radar is on: There was some funny business happening over here with these two and you didn't see it. ... Make your directions more concise."

In another room, a high school chemistry teacher singles out individual students who are doing the right thing: "Patsy's color-coding her labels, that's great!" "Thank you, Harish, for getting started right away."

The principle on display here? "Warm and demanding" teachers try to speak positively as much as possible, a technique called "precise praise."

Like a presidential candidate in debate prep, the teachers are reminded to maintain "emotional constancy." Basically, that means not letting students see you sweat, maintaining steady eye contact, keeping a level tone of voice and smiling whenever appropriate.

It seems like a lot to remember, on top of actual lessons.

At the end of the morning the students gathered in a circle to share feedback. One, a young man in a hoodie, told the group: "Sometimes at the beginning of Relay I was feeling like an actor and like a puppet. Lately I've been implementing what I'm learning and putting my own style to it."

"Teaching itself is inherently challenging. It's asking you to think in the past, present, future all simultaneously," says Connor Fox, a first-year student at Relay who is in his second year as a teaching assistant at a high school in the Bronx. "There's never a moment in these deliberate practice sessions when you're not being challenged to think about your perspectives and actions and how powerfully every moment in the classroom counts."

Indeed, I heard teachers exhorted to give directions with 30-second countdowns.

"The muscle memory is a big piece," says Quioni Phillips, a Relay student who teaches English-Language Arts to seventh-graders at a charter school in Harlem. "It feels uncomfortable the first time you do it. But with teaching in general, it's a constant learning curve if you're trying to get better."

Relay teachers are praised for expressing authenticity and building strong relationships with students, but it all takes place within a prescribed framework.

Aileen Tejeda, a senior instructional fellow on the New York City residency team, compares the method to "a combination of sports and theater. There's a structure and a process that new teachers can get behind, even if they're struggling."

Wrightman has seen many teachers move up the curve. "It takes time to get used to the method," she says. "At first they don't feel like themselves. But the more they get the opportunity to practice it the more comfortable they become."

Judging students to judge teachers

Does Relay really build better teachers?

The Department of Education singled out Relay in its recent announcement of new rules intended to improve all teacher-prep programs. Those rules require states to hold schools of education accountable, in part by reporting the learning outcomes of their novice teachers' students.

As a requirement of graduation, Relay requires that its teachers show that their students can make progress on standardized tests. The school says that generally the children taught by its students do much better than that, showing on average 1.3 years of growth in reading in a single year.

But one researcher who has studied the Relay model argues that these data are not convincing.

"There is not a single independently conducted study (peer reviewed or not) that shows the effectiveness of Relay graduates even according to the very narrow criterion of raising test scores," Kenneth Zeichner, a professor of education at the University of Washington, wrote in a recent report.

Zeichner says "alternative certification" is really nothing new. "What is new," he tells NPR Ed, "is the tremendous amount of resources and energy in the last 10 or 15 years being put into what's referred to as 'disrupting' the current system in favor of alternative certification, by philanthropy, think tanks, advocacy groups and the U.S. Department of Education."

This disruption, he says, is being carried out in the absence of real evidence that new, independent programs like Relay are any better than what they're replacing.

In a September report published by the National Education Policy Center, which tends to be critical of charter schools, Zeichner took a look at the existing claims made about Relay and other new alternative programs.

All are independent of universities, and they share an emphasis on the mechanics of lesson delivery and classroom management rather than theories of education, research or subject-matter expertise.

In sum: "There's no credible, independently vetted evidence" that this approach is an improvement, says Zeichner.

States and the federal government seem to be sparring over the proper requirements for preparing new teachers.

In July, Pennsylvania's Department of Education recommended that Relay's application to offer master's degrees in that state be denied. In a letter, the state's secretary of education cited the program's lack of an "adequate research component," as well as inadequate academic qualifications for faculty members. The deadline for an appeal by Relay is October 31.

The federal government, however, seems to be leaning the other way : These are the very rules that states are free to ignore under a new federal provision, under the Every Student Succeeds Act, to create "teacher preparation academies."

George Drake is among many members of Pennsylvania's ed school establishment who spoke out in opposition to Relay's bid. He's dean of the college of education at Millersville University.

"The model of prep that Relay brings to the table is not as rigorous and as effective for prospective teachers as the higher education model," he said in an interview. "In my opinion, Relay is coming into all these locations to spread the charter school version of higher education. It's designed to address a very narrow set of issues related to test scores in urban school districts."

He dismisses Relay's capstone projects, which focus on applying student data to instruction, as "arithmetic" compared with the high-level research design and statistical analyses required in his graduate program.

Norman Atkins, Relay's co-founder and president, says Drake and other leaders of traditional institutions are probably "anxious" about needed changes that are taking place in "a field that has not made a lot of progress in a very long time."

"I would love it if all of our [faculty] had doctorates in a wide variety of subjects," Atkins said. "But at the end of the day teachers are craving other teachers and not researchers to help them practice, learn and develop."

Atkins added that in 25 years of observing classrooms, "I've rarely seen a novice teacher say, 'Oh, if only I had had more Vygotsky and more theory, I'd know just what to do now.' "

In the end, whether you view the expansion of Relay and similar teacher-prep models with approbation or alarm depends on whether you think of teaching as more an academic pursuit or more of a full-contact sport. Or perhaps, there is room for both models to coexist.

Levine, who has left Relay's board and is now working on his own ed school startup in cooperation with MIT, says "the problem is, nontraditional programs like Relay have tended to be so practice-oriented. They teach teachers what they need for tomorrow. Traditional universities do the opposite — they teach a lot of theory and much less practice. What we need is a merger of the two." He adds that while "Relay is great, it's not for everybody."

Even Zeichner, the Relay critic, says, "I'm not defending the status quo" in teacher preparation. "We do need substantive and significant change, and we need to engage with each other around what the goals should be and how we know if we're reaching them."

Correction Oct. 18, 2016

An earlier version of this story said that Pennsylvania education officials had denied Relay's request to offer a master's degree there. The state has recommended that it be denied, but a final decision has not been made.

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This year at my school we’ve been proud to host two teacher residents.

They are both Black and have worked under the guidance of master teachers, co-planning and observing expertly designed lessons, and then practicing them. These two teachers have worked hard, attended graduate classes, delivered instruction, received coaching and feedback, practiced applying best practices, analyzed data, and developed their skills.

And they are both students in the Relay Graduate School of Education .

As a principal, I am always looking for the teaching talent that my students deserve. I am looking for real solutions in urban education, and I’m wary of “experts” who don’t know the context we operate in. My lens is simple: Is this candidate someone I would want in front of my own children?

I admit, Relay is different than the traditional teacher graduate programs out there. But maybe that’s why I like it. It focuses much more on time spent working in a real urban school, sharing a classroom with a mentor teacher, and less time learning the history of didacticism in the leafy confines of a college campus. When Relay teacher residents are learning theory, they are given multiple opportunities to practice and receive feedback from their faculty and our cooperating teachers. They can put that “theory” into action immediately in a classroom and see what works.

Anyone who has been in our city’s public schools for an iota of time knows, with certainty, that a traditional program does not guarantee success. Unfortunately, there are some people in positions of power and influence who proclaim “radical” statements and “revolutionary” thoughts, but in the end align themselves with the status quo, in spite of the evidence.

Most notably I’m speaking of vocal Philadelphia Councilwoman Helen Gym, who wants to challenge the “radical” idea that a non-traditional graduate school program can have an impact on preparing teachers for our city. Just check out her recent Twitter rant, which starts here:

Relay comes to #PhlEd and it's an embarrassment to teaching. https://t.co/qUfidJMHbY — Helen Gym (@HelenGymPHL) April 17, 2017

Late in her Twitter diatribe, the councilwoman finally acknowledges that traditional education programs have some shortcomings, notably failing to attract more candidates of color:

8. One more note: Relay also exists b/c too many teacher ed colleges failed to recruit, retain, support TOC as students & faculty. — Helen Gym (@HelenGymPHL) April 17, 2017

But she doesn’t go nearly far enough. The National Center for Teacher Quality has shown that many traditional schools of education aren’t actually doing a great job in general at producing strong educators of any background.

In 2013, the National Center for Teacher Quality (NCTQ)  rated over 600 programs  around the country. Unfortunately, only four out of 1,200 teacher prep programs received four out of four stars in the review. Just as alarming, 163 programs received less than one star. NCTQ shared that aspiring educators should be wary about applying to these programs because they are “unlikely to obtain much return on their investment.” The most recent report ( December 2016 ) from NCTQ continued to show that our nation’s programs still needed to do a lot of work to improve their practices.

Helen Gym’s attack on the Relay program demonstrates that her actual alignment isn’t with Black students, teachers of color, or rigorous teacher prep programs—she’s often more aligned to the status quo.

To be clear, there are plenty of areas that touch our schools where I agree with Councilwoman Gym. Her stance against illegal and racist immigration policies and racist prison guidelines are all commendable. I would wholly agree with her that the state’s education funding program deliberately and knowingly undermines our students’ educational opportunities and chances of success.

But attacking a contract that calls for 20 (yes, 20) teachers in a city of over 8000 teachers to be prepared by Relay, reeks of something other than Gym’s benign concern for our students. When Councilwoman Gym clings to the status quo, she is not aligned with our families or aspiring Black and Latino teachers seeking a different pathway to serve our communities.

When I shared Gym’s vitriol towards Relay with our two student teachers, they were shocked. In an email, one of these aspiring teachers shared with me:

I chose Relay Graduate School of Education because I did not study education as an undergrad. With an emphasis on practice, Relay gave me the knowledge and training that I brought to the classroom every single day. I would recommend Relay over any other educational institute because they did not just teach me theories from 100 years ago that do not apply to our generation, they taught me how to be an effective teacher in any setting.

The other one said:

Relay Graduate School is a truly engaging experience. We teach children every day which helps our instruction and gives us true feedback. Unlike traditional graduate school- with only papers, dissertations, and inapplicable assignments- Relay provides deliberate and daily practice, coupled with feedback, which alleviates the fears, frustrations, and confusion that comes with first year teaching. I am more than proud to be a part of the Relay family.

Here are some actual facts about Relay which likely led a seasoned educator like Philly Superintendent Dr. Hite , who is committed to improving the diversity of our educators, to support the Relay program in the first place:

• Nearly 70 percent of Relay Philadelphia and Camden participants identify as Black or Latino, more than double the citywide rate of teachers of color.
• Relay has shown a commitment to recruit and prepare more teachers of color, including Black men, who currently represent 12 percent of their first-year residency cohort . If that sounds like a small number, here’s some perspective: I recently spoke to a dean at a local college who shared with me that in her seven years there, she has had only one Black male candidate. The Fellowship-Black Male Educators for Social Justice is proud to count Relay GSE as important partners in this work.
• Since Relay’s program in Philadelphia and Camden launched in 2015, all 18 Philadelphia candidates were kept on for a second year of employment and 14 of those were hired into lead teaching roles.
• Every school that hosted a Relay resident last year opted to host one again this year.

The two teachers we trained this year are both ready for the classroom next year. As a 24-year veteran educator and a current principal, I would be happy to hire both of them. As a father, I would be proud to have them as my own children’s teachers. I’m proud to have collaborated with the Relay Graduate School of Education to be a part of their growth and development.

We don’t expect any first year students to be flawless. Teaching is one of the most complicated professions out there. Of course, they will need to continue to work hard, build relationships, hone their content expertise, analyze data, reflect on their instructional practices, and relentlessly focus on student outcomes in order to continue to improve. Much like any new teacher, their work is cut out for them.

Our city needs collaborative problem-solvers, leaders who are thinking of and collaborating around complex solutions to address entrenched and complex issues. We need honest dialogue and high levels of curiosity and engagement. People like Councilwoman Gym should understand that the leadership in Philadelphia needs to support multiple pathways to our classrooms and schools. With effort and partnerships, we can strengthen and diversify our city’s educator workforce.

Fortunately, Relay has helped these student teachers develop the analytical skill and self-reflection to grow as educators over a lifetime. Maybe Councilwoman Gym can take a note and dig a little deeper to see a different perspective than the one promoted by the status quo.

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New College of Florida set to punish student protesters following boos at commencement

New college president richard corcoran said the school could withhold degrees from students who protested..

New College of Florida is moving forward with disciplinary action against some students who participated in protests at the college’s commencement ceremony on May 17, according to a statement from the college and documents obtained by the Herald-Tribune.

In a statement, New College said it had filed five conduct violation complaints related to the school’s student code of conduct. A copy of a letter sent to a New College graduate and obtained by the Herald-Tribune states that a student protester had “(Failed) to Respond to Instruction” in reference to disruptive conduct.

New College President Richard Corcoran said in a statement that students could face consequences ranging from withholding degrees until they issue an apology letter or take mandatory classes on civil discourse to suspension or expulsion from New College. Rescinding an issued diploma in higher education is rare — typically reserved for instances of plagiarism or cheating.

Prior to graduation, New College had posted an expectation of students to “conduct themselves in an appropriate manner, demonstrating respect for fellow graduates, guests, and speakers”

”We support and protect the right of free speech while resolutely insisting upon civil discourse,” New College’s statement read. “Disruptive activities by a few individuals at a ceremonial event attended by hundreds is not representative of either of these principles.”

During the college’s graduation ceremony, the student section erupted in boos, chanted “free Palestine” and expletives as Joe Ricketts, the billionaire founder of TD Ameritrade, spoke. Students also wore stoles bearing the flag of Palestine, following a national trend of higher education protests against the war in Gaza.

“They don’t care,” Ricketts said to Corcoran on stage after stopping his speech. “I hate it, but they really don’t care what I have to say.”

In an opinion column submitted to the Wall Street Journal , President Corcoran said students will get due process through the school’s upper-level conduct hearings.

“That students intermittently disrupted the proceedings was a disheartening reflection of the prevailing intolerance for diverse viewpoints in today’s society,” Corcoran said. “But that illiberal attitude hasn’t and won’t rule New College.”

Follow Herald-Tribune Education Reporter Steven Walker on Twitter at @swalker_7. He can be reached at [email protected] .

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This is the student loan problem that no one talks about: Graduate school debt

Congressional leaders and Democratic presidential candidates are proposing huge investments in undergraduate education, including tuition-free public college and larger grants for students from low-income families. Although those policies would reduce the need to borrow for certificates and associate’s and bachelor’s degrees, they ignore the staggering debt Americans amass in graduate programs.

A paper released Monday by the liberal think tank the Center for American Progress suggests that a failure to address mounting graduate debt could undermine efforts to make higher education more affordable. Even if people can earn a bachelor’s degree at little to no cost, those savings could become inconsequential if they pursue an advanced degree.

The rise of expensive graduate programs, a dearth of grant aid and unlimited lending by the federal government have increased the prevalence of graduate school borrowing. The trend is often overlooked because borrowers with graduate degrees are not defaulting in droves, although they may be burdened with high-interest, high-balance debt for decades.

The paper explores policies that could lower graduate debt, including borrowing limits, pricing caps and penalizing schools for saddling too many students with debt they cannot repay. Some reforms could weed out degrees with poor returns but might also restrict access for marginalized groups or lower the quality of programs.

“A lot of these ideas are provocative and some wouldn’t work,” said Ben Miller, author of the paper and vice president for postsecondary education at the Center for American Progress. “But we need to have this conversation. I worry about what we’re doing to people’s ability to build wealth.”

Graduate programs account for 40 percent of federal student loans issued each year, with borrowing increasing by $2.3 billion from the 2010-2011 academic year to 2017-2018. By comparison, borrowing for undergraduate programs declined by $15 billion during that period. The rise in graduate debt reflects, in part, robust enrollment, which grew 39 percent from 2000 to 2017, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

In some cases, graduate schools create expensive online programs to subsidize other academic offerings, researchers say, a practice enabled by the federal policy that allows graduate students to borrow up to the full cost of attendance. Employers, Miller said, also bear responsibility for a “lazy desire for graduate degrees” that are not necessary to excel at a job. Demanding advanced degrees, he said, means colleges seek to meet the demand.

Policy analysts have debated the merits of capping graduate borrowing, but Miller and others say they worry that stricter loan limits could create a larger market for private loans with poor terms. Setting limits on federal loans could also depress enrollment of people of color, who may be shut out of private credit markets.

Graduate school has become an expensive path to parity for people of color. Economist Marshall Steinbaum has said African American students pursue advanced degrees to gain equal footing in the job market with whites who hold bachelor’s degrees. Their graduate school debt is often compounded by loans they took out for undergraduate studies. Any policy addressing graduate debt would need to take equity into consideration, Miller said.

He argues that nearly unlimited lending by the federal government has made it easy for schools to offer credentials with prices out of step with earnings expectations, such as a master’s in social work that has a median debt of $115,000 and first-year earnings of barely $50,000.

“We have a disconnect between the credentialing system we’ve established and the pay system that is trapping borrowers in the middle, and there should be a conversation about how to solve that,” Miller said.

The paper published Monday explores the controversial idea of judging graduate schools by their students’ debt to earnings, something akin to the gainful employment rule the Education Department once used to regulate career-training programs.

Before the Trump administration eliminated the regulation, about 60 percent of the programs that had debt-to-earnings ratios above acceptable levels closed to avoid the possibility of losing access to federal student aid. Although Miller does not advocate cutting off financial aid to graduate programs, he said programs could be subject to loan limits.

Suzanne Ortega, president of the Council of Graduate Schools, a trade group, said any such regulatory regime would be difficult to execute because of the complexities of graduate education.

“Developing any system that would be sufficiently nuanced to take into account regional variations, employment mobility, degree difference, evolution in the workforce over time … would be extraordinarily complicated,” Ortega said. “Universities are taking a step in this direction themselves with a commitment to career transparency.”

Graduate schools, Ortega said, are providing more information about career outcomes to help students make informed decisions. She said solutions to tackling graduate debt must involve employers and states.

Many social workers and teachers, for instance, must complete graduate coursework to keep their jobs or increase their pay, but their compensation falls short of what’s needed to pay off debt. States with credential requirements should provide options that could be repaid with a reasonable share of a teacher’s or social worker’s salary over a set time, Miller said.

College Scorecard data released last summer by the Education Department cast a light on graduate programs in which students leave with six-figure debt but earn nowhere close to what they owe. An analysis of the data by Robert Kelchen, an associate professor of higher education at Seton Hall University in New Jersey, found the average median debt for master’s degrees was $42,335. For doctoral degrees, it was $95,715. Professional degrees in fields such as law and medicine can result in debt of more than $141,000.

One way to lower the expense of medical training would be for Congress to increase scholarship funding for the National Health Service Corps, a federal program that covers up to four years of medical or dental school in exchange for service in an area with a shortage of health-care providers.

To bring down costs for law students, Miller suggests schools shift from a three-year program to two years, which would mean reducing the number of required credits. These kinds of field-specific approaches could be easier to execute than price caps on programs, he said.

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MOSCOW – The newest college on the Palouse is trying to return to some old ideas. Students at New Saint Andrews College learn ancient languages and read heavily from the Western canon, in a curriculum based on Calvinist theology. There’s no such thing as a major. Most exams are oral. School officials say it’s an effort to return to a classical model of higher education.

A modern university education, said college President Roy Atwood, with its emphasis on elective majors and job preparation, is “only going to train people to be widgets, and plug into low-paying jobs. It’s not going to train people to be leaders and visionaries.”

New Saint Andrews College is part of a model of classical Christian education that is growing from minister Douglas Wilson’s controversial Christ Church. It has gotten some recent national attention, being cited among the top 50 conservative Christian colleges in the country by the Intercollegiate Studies Group just 12 years after it started with four students.

But for years now, critics have said the small college in downtown Moscow – and Christ Church – want to revive some older ideas that are less benign, such as the natural authority of men, hostility toward gays and lesbians, and a desire to restore a Southern confederacy, with voting rights reserved for landowners.

In the 1990s, Wilson co-authored a pamphlet on slavery that described it as “a relationship based upon mutual affection and confidence.” Two years ago, the Southern Poverty Law Center published a story on the college and the church organization behind it, titled, “Taliban on the Palouse?”

Nick Gier, a retired University of Idaho professor, has been an outspoken critic of the school, questioning the quality of the faculty and urging the UI not to accept transfer credits from the school.

“They are very, very specialized courses, slanted toward one point of view,” he said last week. “They are not academically sound.”

New Saint Andrews and Christ Church have been involved in controversy after controversy in Moscow, ranging from a battle over church affiliates’ tax-exempt status to recent complaints about how the school handled a case of sex abuse by a student. The debate rages on community list-serves and blogs and is often fierce and personal.

School officials say critics have distorted facts and acted out of personal or ideological hostility toward the church’s conservative views.

“The accusation that we’re neo-confederate is laughably stupid,” Atwood said.

Wilson echoed that comment but said he might be fairly described as “paleo-confederate” – favoring many ideas of the Southern confederacy, such as agrarian living, opposition to a strong central government, voting based on property ownership and a focus on traditional family and community, but not slavery.

Wilson, who’s lived on and off in Moscow since 1971 and teaches at New Saint Andrews, says the controversies are offshoots of larger cultural battles.

“As long as I’ve been here, Moscow has prided itself on being a progressive, liberal town in the middle of a hugely conservative state,” Wilson said. “In microcosm, what we have here is a clash of worldviews.”

A lot of Latin

Kathryn Garfield is a 19-year-old Moscow woman with about a decade of Latin under her belt – first during her education at Logos School, the K-12 school of Christ Church, and now as a sophomore at New Saint Andrews. “I’ve had to take Latin since third grade,” she said.

Garfield is one of roughly 150 students who take classes at New Saint Andrews. She’s grown up in Christ Church and said she believes strongly in the values and benefits of a Christian education. Were she to take classes at a public university, she said, she’d likely encounter an atmosphere that’s “hostile to Christianity.”

The curriculum at New Saint Andrews is a liberal-arts approach, based on study in history, philosophy, literature and the other humanities. The school’s Web site says it emphasizes “a right understanding of Christ’s lordship over every human endeavor.”

The school teaches the biblical version of a six-day creation. While students read Charles Darwin’s “The Origin of Species,” it would be “odd” if they arrived at the conclusion that it was correct, said Atwood, the school’s president.

By contrast, just last year UI President Tim White made a public announcement that alternatives to evolution had no place in the science classroom – a reaction to the intelligent design movement. Most mainstream scientists say Darwinian evolution is the mechanism that best explains life on Earth.

Critics of the school’s curriculum say an emphasis on biblical inerrancy precludes true academic inquiry – everything is directed toward arriving at a predetermined answer. But Atwood and others said that all schools teach from a foundation of beliefs.

“All education is probably the most religious thing most students do. We are passing on what we believe to be the fundamental truths of the universe,” he said. “If other schools were honest, they’d say, come here and we’ll teach you a secularized version of the world.”

The school grew from a church group that studied Greek and opened formally with four students in 1994. It has since grown to about 150 students and in 2003 moved into its building in downtown Moscow, on Friendship Square. A year ago, the school was accredited by TRACS – the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools.

New Saint Andrews attracts a lot of intelligent students with good test scores. Roughly 40 percent were home-schooled. Atwood says they’re trying to establish a new model for classical Christian education.

While the school is not likely to grow much beyond its current size in Moscow, school officials can envision trying to establish similar models elsewhere.

“We really do see ourselves as the new generation of Christian colleges,” Atwood said.

‘A happy picture’

Gier, the former UI professor, said he has known some of the New Saint Andrews officials for years and worked with the school and its students initially.

But when the college was a candidate for TRACS accreditation in 2004, Gier wrote a letter opposing it. He argued that the majority of the college’s faculty don’t have doctoral degrees and publish their scholarship only through a press associated with Christ Church.

In his letter, Gier also cited the publication of “Southern Slavery As It Was,” a pamphlet authored by Wilson and Steve Wilkins and quoted it: “There has never been a multi-racial society which has existed with such mutual intimacy and harmony in the history of the world.”

He also noted that Wilkins was a founding director of the League of the South, which has been declared a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. He said that many students who come to New Saint Andrews have some tie with Wilkins or the League of the South, and Wilkins has appeared at New Saint Andrews events.

“I have not called Doug Wilson a racist,” Gier said. “He says he is not, and I take his word for it. But there is a very strong neo-confederate element in those who come to the college.”

William Ramsey, an assistant professor of history at the UI, co-authored a response to the slavery booklet titled, “Southern Slavery As it Wasn’t.”

He said that the pamphlet constituted “academic fraud” in the way it selectively quoted from interviews with former slaves. It has also come under attack for plagiarism.

“They selectively used historical evidence to try and paint a happy picture of slavery,” he said in an interview.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, in its 2004 article on what it called Wilson’s “far-flung, far-right religious empire,” connected the slavery pamphlet and New Saint Andrews’ curriculum with racist writings and movements. The article detailed several instances of Wilson’s writings that discuss the “overthrow of unbelief and secularism,” opposition to homosexuality and the belief that men are the ultimate authority in the household.

‘In the pudding’

Wilson says he’s not a racist and notes that several people of color attend his church. He says his pamphlet on slavery – now revised and included in a book – was not an apologia for the practice but an attempt to keep it in perspective.

“The South was not Nazi Germany,” he said. “What we were objecting to was the moral equivalence between Robert E. Lee and Stalin or Hitler.”

He acknowledges that portraits of Lee and Confederate flags have adorned office and school walls at times and says that he believes in some – but not all – of the tenets on which the Southern confederacy was built: a society centered around God and belief, a simple farming life as opposed to a hectic modern one, and an emphasis on traditional family and community.

He also says he’s not a sexist and notes that his wife has published four books. But he also says that men are the head of the family.

“I believe the Bible teaches the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is the head of the church,” he said. “I believe that, but so do millions of other Christians.”

Atwood said he’s grown tired of the criticisms over the years. He contends that ideological differences have fueled some of the controversies about the school, most recently including complaints that school and church officials didn’t do enough to notify people about a student who was convicted of sexually abusing a minor.

The student committed the crimes while boarding with a family in Moscow. Critics said the church didn’t make information about the crimes known to members of the congregation and college; Wilson and Atwood defended their handling of the case, saying police were notified immediately and the student expelled.

“There’s a lot of animosity, mainly from the extreme left, people who are really pushing for gay rights and are more radicalized on that issue,” Atwood said.

Regarding criticisms about the school’s faculty and academic quality, he said that four of the seven full-time faculty members have doctorates. Part-time instructors don’t – but neither do the grad students and many adjuncts who teach at public universities, he said.

He said the school’s performance speaks for itself, with some students moving directly into doctoral programs. The ISI, in its rankings of the top 50 conservative Christian colleges, noted that the reading list includes about 100 books from the Western canon and called the school’s core curriculum “impressive.”

“The proof is in the pudding,” Atwood said.

For students like Eric Mabry, that pudding involves a whole lot of books. The 20-year-old sophomore from Texas, who was home-schooled, said he was drawn to New Saint Andrews by its curriculum primarily, because he was interested in reading ancient languages and studying philosophy, looking toward a future in graduate school.

In his freshman year, his reading assignments totaled between 600 and 800 pages a week.

“For me it’s just wonderful,” he said. “It’s one of the reasons I’m here – the amount of stuff we’re able to read.”

Mabry said that alternative views aren’t omitted.

“I feel like I am exposed to more ideas here than I might be in a secular university,” he said. “We’ve discussed atheism. We’ve discussed humanism. … In a university, sometimes Christianity is ignored.”

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Meet Portsmouth High School's top 12 students in Class of 2024

PORTSMOUTH — Portsmouth High School announced the top 12 students in its Class of 2024.

Information on each student, listed in order of class rank, is provided by the school:

Zoe Gouin, the Class of 2024 valedictorian, is the daughter of Gilda Pronych and Richard Gouin and sister of Coral and Perry Gouin. She is a resident of Portsmouth and will attend Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in the fall. Zoe plans to study in a STEM-related major with an emphasis on mathematics and will be minoring in music and Spanish. In the future, she hopes to continue her education through graduate school to earn a doctorate and become a leader and role model in her community. Zoe’s hard work and commitment throughout high school earned her a variety of accolades including the Haven Medal for General Excellence in both junior and senior year, the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Medal in junior year, the Dartmouth Book Award in junior year, the Seal of Biliteracy in Spanish junior year, and she will be named a New Hampshire STEM Scholar in senior year. Zoe was also awarded the New Hampshire Music Educators Association Outstanding Audition Honors for the highest score on bass clarinet in the state in 2023 and 2024.

At PHS, Zoe is an Executive Board Member of the National Honor Society, a Student 2 Student Mentor Leader, and a founding member of the Books and Bad Art Club. She has participated in Portsmouth High School music groups since eighth grade, including concert band, holiday ensemble, jazz band, pep band and marching band, with a leadership position as the Drum Major senior year. Outside of school, Zoe has been working as a Red Cross certified lifeguard and water safety instructor at the Portsmouth Indoor Pool and Peirce Island Outdoor Pool since June 2022. She has performed with the Strafford Wind Symphony as a bass clarinetist and vocal soloist, as well as the UNH Youth Band, NH Chamber Music Festival, and Seacoast Wind Ensemble. Additionally, Zoe volunteered for Special Olympics New Hampshire, Strawbery Banke Museum, various Ukrainian Festivals, Newmarket Millspace, and Blue Ocean beach cleanups throughout high school.

Emma Jeffrey

Emma Jeffrey, the Class of 2024 salutatorian, is the daughter of Kristin and Aron Jeffrey and lives in Portsmouth. She will attend Cornell University in the fall and is undecided in a major, but is considering fields of study in either physics or environment and sustainability. Emma is a very active student at Portsmouth High and involved in a variety of clubs, organizations, and sports. Environmental issues and sustainability has been an interest throughout with Emma taking part in the PHS ECO club all four years serving as the leader in junior and senior year as well as working in the greenhouse and garden the last two years. Emma played soccer all four years, joined the Sailing Club in senior year, took part in Wellness Club in junior and senior year, was part of the Physics Club in senior year, and was involved in the pen pal program from the SEGA Tanzania Club. Emma was recognized for her achievements in a number of ways throughout her time at PHS. She received the Clarkson University Achievement Award, was inducted into the National Honor Society, and was honored with the Seal of Biliteracy in her senior year.

Outside of school, Emma found joy in her time at the White Pine summer camp as a CIT volunteer in grades nine and ten and working as a Camp Counselor in grades 11 and 12. She loves skiing, hiking, and gardening in her free time and attends Portsmouth climate solution city meetings regularly. Despite all of her other activities, Emma also worked part time currently at the Red Rover Creamery downtown and at Hannaford Supermarket freshman through junior years.

Avery Timerman

Avery Timerman is the daughter of Janis and Bob Timerman and sister of Andrew Timerman. She and her family live in Portsmouth. During her time at Portsmouth High School, Avery has been a three-season athlete. She has been a member of the varsity winter and spring track and field teams and a two-year captain. Avery has achieved three PHS school records in relay teams competing in the 4 x 100-meter run, 4 x 200 and 4 x 400. She also has placed third in the 400 and fourth in the 600 in the Division 1 state meet. Avery played on the PHS varsity soccer team and was awarded Midfielder of the Year in her senior year when the team made it to the Division 1 championship game for the first time in the school's history. She was also awarded as a NHIAA Scholar Athlete.

Avery has a strong interest in the field of medicine and is a member of the National Technical Honor Society for her achievement in health sciences. She completed an internship in the Emergency Department at Portsmouth Regional Hospital. During the summers, Avery attended mini-medicine and veterinary medicine programs at Tufts and Cornell. She was awarded for a capstone research project on zoonotic diseases. She is recognized as a NH Scholar with STEM emphasis.

Outside of school, Avery has worked at Petey's Summertime Seafood in Rye for several years. She has also been a constant advocate for the well-being of animals with volunteer work and support of animal shelters in the community.

Next fall, Avery will attend Boston College in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. She plans to study biology with a focus on the pre-med track.

Adam Hoskin

Adam Hoskin is the son of Nathan and Allison Hoskin and lives in Rye. In the fall, he will attend Cornell University to study mathematical physics and computer science, with an interest in philosophy. He aims to attend graduate school after completing his bachelor’s, and hopes to perform scientific research in his fields of study.

At PHS, Adam founded the physics team to bring the F=ma exam to PHS, subsequently qualifying for the USA Physics Olympiad at which he earned an Honorable Mention. Since his sophomore year, Adam has been a member of the PHS math team, recognized as the highest scorer in the Tri-State Math League all three years. He additionally has been the state trig-star winner. As math team captain, he started the AMC 10 & 12 at PHS, personally qualifying for the American Invitational Mathematics Examination. He has been a member of the PHS robotics team since freshman year, on which he served as programming captain and was selected as a semifinalist for the FRC New England District Dean’s List. Adam has been a member of PHS Model United Nations since freshman year, was elected club co-president, and won awards for best delegate and best large delegation. He also was on the PHS Debate Team freshman through junior year. He has been an elected member of student council all four years, being further elected vice president junior year, and has served on a number of senate committees. Adam has also helped to run freshman orientation as an S2S Mentor, volunteered at the school as a math tutor, and has particularly enjoyed his time aiding in classes at PHS as a teacher assistant for precalculus and DE precalculus.

Outside of PHS, Adam likes to play board games and has enjoyed taking additional classes, of which his favorite is Discrete Mathematics. Adam was captain of the New Hampshire American Regions Math League team, on which he has competed three times. He has been selected as a US Presidential Scholars Candidate, a National Merit Scholar semifinalist, and an AP Scholar with Distinction. He has additionally been awarded the University of Rochester George Eastman Young Leaders Award and the MIT Kim Lim Foundation Award for Mathematics.

Emily Stokel

Emily Stokel is the daughter of Joshua and Christina Stokel and is a resident of Portsmouth. She will be attending Keene State College in the fall to study elementary education and psychology. In the future, she hopes to become an elementary school teacher who creates a fun, welcoming, and memorable classroom for all students. Emily was very involved in the PHS community throughout high school. She was a member of the Environmental Change Organization Club in junior and senior year, co-president of We Speak, New Hampshire Listens Social Justice Club sophomore through senior year, a member and co-captain of the varsity swim team all four years also serving as co-captain in junior and senior year, she was a Student to Student Mentor Leader all four years, part of the CTE Careers in Education Program in junior and senior year, a member of the Epitome Literary Magazine in senior year, and a took part in the PHS sailing team in senior year.

In addition to her involvement in PHS activities, Emily was deeply involved in a variety of outside activities throughout her four years. She was involved in the teacher training experience through working in the Little Clippers Lab Preschool and interned with Ms. Comi's first-grade classroom at Dondero Elementary School in junior and senior year, she was a volunteer and organizer of Homework Hut, an organization that has high school students volunteer to help middle school-aged students with their homework in junior and senior year, she served as a city of Portsmouth lifeguard and water safety instructor sophomore through senior year, she has taken part in competitive club swimming for Atlantis Aquatics and Solo Aquatics since fifth grade, and was involved in the International Order of the Rainbow for Girls since sixth grade - an all-girls Masonic youth organization dedicated to providing service to the community as well as developing strong leadership skills in its members. Emily was very involved in the a NH Educators Rising program as a member in junior and senior year serving as a Educators Rising State Officer planning educational conferences for aspiring educators state-wide, creating workshops for students and staff state-wide, and creating service projects to aid the local community. This also led her to become a member of the National Educators Rising program in junior and senior year.

Emily’s activities, hard work, dedication, and involvement have led to a number of awards and accolades throughout high school. She won the Smith College Junior Book Award, will be named a New Hampshire Scholar in senior year, is a member of National Honor Society and National Technical Honor Society, won first place in the Educators Rising New Hampshire State Competitions in the Ethical Dilemma event in junior year and second place in the Creative Lecture Event in senior year, she was a Educators Rising National Competition qualifier/participant junior and senior year, and a nominee for the Grand Cross of Color with the International Order of the Rainbow for Girls for outstanding community work senior year. Emily has been an accomplished swimmer throughout high school winning the PHS Varsity Swim Team Coach’s Award sophomore year, the Full Circuit Award in junior and senior year, the Team High Point Award senior year, she was a NHIAA swimming state qualifier sophomore through senior year, placed seventh at NHIAA Division II state swim meet in the 500 freestyle and 100 backstroke individual events in junior and senior year, and was made it to the New England Silver Swimming Championships freshman, junior, and senior year.

Samantha Ruel

Samantha Ruel, a Greenland resident and daughter of Becky and Jeff Ruel, will attend Northeastern University in the fall to study cell and molecular biology. In the future, she plans to work as a geneticist and to research various genetic disorders. While at PHS, Samantha was involved in a variety of clubs, sports and activities. She was a member of National Honor Society junior and senior year serving as a board member in senior year, she took part in SEGA-Tanzania Club sophomore through senior year serving as the club leader in senior year, was a Student to Student mentor sophomore through senior serving as Leader in senior year, she was a Peer Leadership member junior through senior year, played varsity field hockey all four years being named captain in senior year, and was a member of the varsity girls tennis team junior and senior year. Samantha is an accomplished student and athlete winning a number of awards both at PHS and at the state level over the last four years. She was the recipient of a Haven Medal for General Excellence in sophomore year, was recognized for Highest Honors for the Society of Women Engineers Boston Chapter in junior year, will be recognized as a New Hampshire Scholar with the STEM & Art Emphasis in senior year, won a New Hampshire Scholastic Art Gold Key Award senior year, won a NHIAA-NHADA Scholar Athlete Award in senior year, and was part of the 2021 Division II field hockey state champion team.

Outside of school, Samantha was involved in a number of organizations. She was a member of the Seacoast Club Field Hockey program starting in sixth grade, has worked as a waitress at Lexie's Landing since freshman year, took time volunteering at South Fort Myers Food Pantry for a few years, and babysat for local families over the last couple of years. Additionally, Samantha loves reading, spending time with family and friends and cooking when she has free time in her busy schedule.

Evelyn Wilkinson

Evy Wilkinson, the daughter of Tina and Keith, is a resident of Portsmouth and will be attending Lehigh University in the fall to study public health and biostatistics. Her future goal is to become an epidemiologist. In her time at PHS, Evy has been an active member of the school community. She took part in the Peer Leadership program in sophomore through senior year serving as the vice president in junior year and president in senior year, was a member of the PHS robotics wire Clippers team sophomore through senior year, serving as build captain as a senior and electrical lead as both a junior and senior, was involved with the PHS sailing team all four years serving as co-captain in junior and senior year, and was also active on the PHS swim team throughout all four years. While at PHS, Evy’s hard work was recognized through a number of awards. She was a member of National Honor Society and National Technical Honor Society, she received the junior award from Rochester Institute of Technology for Women in STEM, she is a New Hampshire Scholar with a STEM emphasis, and was published in the 2024 New Hampshire Teen Poetry Anthology.

Outside of school, Evy was an active volunteer at Strawbery Banke Museum all four years, took part in club swimming on Oyster River Otters all four years, worked at Kittery Point Yacht Club as a certified sailing instructor junior and senior year, and worked as a lifeguard in grades 10-12.

Anna Parker

Annie Parker, daughter of Jon and Meg Parker, is a resident of Portsmouth and will be attending the Newhouse School of Communications at Syracuse University in the fall. She plans to study communications, specifically broadcast journalism, and is looking to pursue a career in media when she graduates. Annie also wants to be a contributing member of the women's varsity lacrosse team and compete for a national championship. She was a recipient of the Rochester Institute of Technology Science and Math Award in junior year and will be honored in senior year as a New Hampshire Scholar with an emphasis in both science and art.

In her time at PHS, Annie was a four-year varsity soccer player where she served as team captain for two seasons, she was a member of the National Honor Society, took part in the unified club, and played varsity lacrosse for four years where she served as team captain for two seasons. Annie’s hard work and dedication earned her numerous athletic awards throughout high school including being named an All-American for lacrosse in 2023 and receiving the NHIAA-NHADA 2024 Scholar-Athlete Award, soccer MVP 2023, lacrosse MVP 2023, first team all-state lacrosse, the Heart and Hustle Lacrosse Award 2022, she was named Rookie of the Year for lacrosse in 2021, and Offensive Player of the Year for Soccer in 2022. Outside of school, Annie volunteered as a coach for Seacoast Lacrosse and conducted individual youth lacrosse training.

Sawyer Schmitt

Sawyer Schmitt, born and raised in Portsmouth is looking forward to attending the University of New Hampshire Hamel Honors College in the fall. He will be studying cybersecurity and hopes to pursue it as a career. During high school, he was a member of National Honor Society as well as National Technical Honor Society. He completed a two year Career Technical Education program while at PHS, focusing on computer science. In his senior year, he took independent courses through Google to get a certificate in cyber security. He is now working towards getting an industry standard certification.

In his time at PHS, Sawyer volunteered at his local elementary school to help with an after school program, volunteered at Gather food pantry, and edited videos for PPMTV. He was awarded the Rochester Xerox Innovation and Technology Award in junior year, was named a New Hampshire Scholar in senior year, was an active member in the robotics team throughout high school, took part in the debate team, and ran cross country for four years. He hopes to continue to learn and explore the world around him.

Timmy Tran is a resident of Portsmouth and the son of Ha Le and Andy Tran. He will be attending the University of New Hampshire in the fall to study computer science and be a part of the Hamel Scholars Program. In his time at PHS, Timmy was involved in First Robotics all four years serving as captain in his senior year and a programming subgroup member, he was a member of the varsity math team both junior and seniors years, a Student Council member all four years where he served as the holiday raffle and giving tree committee chair in senior year, and was active on the Ultimate Frisbee Team in junior and senior year serving as team captain in senior year. Academically, Timmy was honored with the Rochester Institute of Technology Computing Award in junior year, he is a National Technical Honor Society Inductee, and was named a New Hampshire Scholar with a STEM emphasis in his senior year.

Outside of PHS, Timmy worked at Mr. Wish all four years, took part in bouldering in junior and senior years, and will be attending the Jane Street Academy of Math and Programming the summer after graduation. He has enjoyed playing casual pick-up volleyball in senior year as well as attending multiple Seacoast Ultimate Tournaments including Flicksgiving, Live Freeze or Die 2024, and the Spring Fling Hat Tournament this spring.

Isabelle Alderson

Izzy Alderson is a resident of Greenland along with her parents Kim and Scott Alderson. She will be attending the University of New Hampshire in the fall and plans to study in the fields of science, math or art. Her goal is to further explore what her future could hold and how to incorporate what she likes to do into it. Izzy wants to determine what could be the best outcome for her future which will hopefully include math, science, and art. She was the recipient of the Society of Women Engineers for Excellence in Science and Mathematics High Honors Award in junior year and is being recognized as a New Hampshire Scholar in senior year with an emphasis in both Science and Art.

While at PHS, Izzy spent her free time taking part in the Art Club culminating in her art being shown in the Senior Showcase at the 3SArtspace art show that is held by the PHS art department each year. Outside of school, she is an avid ballet dancer having taken part in ballet classes since she was three years old. She enjoys traveling and hiking and has visited more than seven major National Parks throughout high school including Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce Canyon, Acadia, Yosemite, Kings Canyon and Sequoia.

Jane Edwards

Jane Edwards, a resident of Portsmouth, is the daughter of Tyler and Tricia Edwards. She will be attending the University of Utah in the fall to study biomedical engineering. Eventually, she would like to find a way to use her education and travel the world. She is an outdoor enthusiast who loves to explore the beauty of New Hampshire and the surrounding areas and spends her free time in the winter months skiing.

In school, Jane was a four-year member of the girls soccer team, participated in swimming for three years, and split her spring seasons playing lacrosse for two years and tennis for two years. She was a member of the Tanzania Club throughout high school, was inducted into the National Honor Society, and took part in Peer Leadership for three years. Jane was the honored recipient of the Bowdoin Book Award in junior year and was named a New Hampshire Scholar Athlete in senior year.