Head of School at Discovery Day Academy in Bonita Springs, Florida, Elizabeth McDaniel-Garcia has been selected for the America Achieves’ Fellowship for Teachers and Principals (http://www.americaachieves.org/leadership as a fellow for the 2014-16 school years. This program is highly selective, with less than 20% of nominees selected.
By providing a platform for sharing best practices and giving educators a voice in local, state, and national discussions about public education, the impact of the program extends beyond the individual fellows and into the communities they serve. Through this highly selective fellowship, Elizabeth joins 180 national fellows located across 35 states and the District of Columbia, to develop skills to significantly impact students locally and nationally. To launch this work, Elizabeth will travel to New York City October 17-19th to meet with other fellows to dive deep into critical issues, collaborate on ways to scale their impact, develop action plans, and advise policymakers and thought leaders.
“As a former public school teacher, I am thrilled to have the opportunity to act as a change-agent on a broader scale. I desire to impact children’s success beyond my leadership at Discovery Day Academy,” she says in relation to this new opportunity.
As part of their work, each fellow takes on an Impact Project to help expand their reach beyond the walls of their school and classrooms, gain an increased understanding of current research, opportunities, and challenges in practice, systems and policies. Past Impact Projects have resulted in teacher leadership and college access models lauded by the US Department of Education, informing the policy agenda of a mayor of a major urban city, and a regular blog on the widely read Ed Week Teacher, Connecting the Dots.
Regarding the Fellowship’s goals and aims, Elizabeth remarks, “I look forward to working with leaders and policy makers nationally and within my state, educators need a voice in public policy now more than ever. Children deserve a globally competitive education, focused on a higher-bar”.
“This Fellowship gives teachers and principals the opportunity to apply their experience in schools to a broader context and impact education practice, policy, and public discussion. We are thrilled to welcome Elizabeth McDaniel-Garcia as a 2014-2016 fellow in this prestigious program,” says Sarah Zuckerman, manager of the National Fellowship.
In 2006, Elizabeth founded Discovery Day Academy as an independent research school, aimed at developing innovative teaching strategies to prepare children for the 21st century. She authored The Discovery Method, a project based learning model that was named a Pacesetter project in Lego Foundation’s Reimagine Learning Challenge.
About the national America Achieves Fellowship for Teachers and Principals
The America Achieves Fellowship for Teachers and Principals (AAFTP) provides outstanding educators the ability and opportunity to develop and showcase expertise and shape education practice, policy and the public conversation at the state and national level in order to raise the bar for students, communities, and the education profession.
