My First 100 Days of Impact as Executive Director of Math for America Los Angeles
As I reflect on my first 100 days as Executive Director of Math for America Los Angeles, I feel a renewed sense of purpose and urgency. As the world of schools and education gets more complex, it remains true that we desperately need teachers who thrive in the classroom if we want students to thrive. I'm excited for this opportunity to do the work needed to support teachers so they feel empowered in the classroom.
Success Comes from the Top
I'm so grateful to have such dedicated and brilliant people around me to help carry out this work. Mary Jane Stevenson, our senior advisor for strategy and fundraising, has been hard at work building connections to potential donors and thought partners. And Alexandra Lee, who was in our 2008 teacher cohort, is now our Director of Professional Development and Operations. Rocky Paneno, who started his own career in our 2009 teacher cohort, now serves as MfA LA’s Program Officer for Teacher Leadership and has been hard at work redesigning our coaching programs for teachers. With Mary Jane's help, we’re assembling a top-notch board of directors to help guide and elevate this work. We’re excited to welcome Dr. Talithia Williams alongside Pete Muller and Aaron Sosnick.
75 Math and Computer Science Teacher Fellows Supporting Los Angeles Schools
And of course, this group is nothing without our amazing teachers. This school year, we've got a terrific group of 75 math and computer science teachers in our fellowship programs. I'm particularly excited that we welcomed eight new elementary school teachers to our group, a first in our 19-year history. Their expertise will be invaluable as we build coherence across grade levels in math and computer science education.
One particularly impactful moment for me happened during MfA LA's first teacher professional development meeting for this school year on August 29. I asked our returning teacher fellows to share a few words of advice to the new teacher fellows in our group. What followed was the most incredible, unscripted 15 minutes of wisdom, love, joy, care, and professionalism that I have ever experienced among teachers. I'm still kicking myself for not recording that session! We are building a beautiful community of teachers that I wish every teacher in the world could have access to. And we've seen that when MfA LA creates the environment needed for teachers to grow and learn from one another, we see measurably better outcomes for student learning.
The Future of Math for America Los Angeles
There are so many exciting things happening at MfA LA right now. We've relaunched our website so that we can better tell the story of our teacher fellows and their impact to a much broader audience. We're working on a new vision for personalized coaching for our teachers so that they can get actionable and targeted feedback to become even more effective teachers and leaders. MfA LA is also helping to knit together STEM teacher professional development practitioners across the greater Los Angeles area so that we can accelerate the dissemination of the latest and best ideas for improving STEM education in this region. At our October 3 professional development meeting, experts from UCLA, CSU Fullerton, CSU Long Beach, Cal Poly Pomona, and Vanderbilt University shared their knowledge and learned alongside our teacher fellows.
Finally, our largest annual opportunity to support teacher growth takes place on Thursday, November 12, at our MfA LA Poker Tournament at Redbird at Vibiana in Downtown LA. It’s not too late to RSVP, donate, and spread the word so that we can continue to help our teacher fellows do their best work for their schools and students and maximize our impact across Southern California. Learn more: https://www.mfala.org/donate-page
100 days have felt like a sprint, and I am humbled at how much we have accomplished so far. I cannot help but brag on our teacher Fellows, their commitment to growth and student learning, and on our MfA LA leadership and board members for their continuous hard work and dedication to this organization.
To learn more about MfA LA’s impact and to get involved, visit our website: https://www.mfala.org
