Kate dickson, career educator and leader, named october "vibrant Giver" by vibrantnation.com
Leading Online Community for Women 50+ Honors Dickson for Efforts to Improve K-12 Education Through Her Work with the Chalkboard Project
Contact:
Ceci Conway
VibrantNation.com
502.568.5555
ceci@vibrantnation.com
October 20, 2009 (Louisville, KY and Portland, OR) -
VibrantNation.com, the leading online community for smart, successful women over 50, today announced that Kate Dickson, Vice President of Education Policy for the Chalkboard Project, a nonprofit organization working to unite Oregonians around a new vision for K-12 public schools, has been named Vibrant Nation’s “Vibrant Giver” for October 2009.
Inspired and challenged early on by her fourth grade teacher, Kate Dickson has pursued her passion for education for her entire career – from classroom teacher to principal to deputy superintendent to college professor, including a doctorate in educational leadership and policy. Now as her encore career, she is the prime architect of an education reform effort called the CLASS Project (Creative Leadership Achieves Student Success) which focuses on providing Oregon’s teachers with the tools and incentives for effective teaching to raise student achievement and teacher retention levels.
“There are so many opportunities to follow your passion and make a difference for children,” commented Dickson. “I got involved with the Chalkboard Project after I retired as Deputy Superintendent of Public Instruction in 2003 and my role has been to design and develop the CLASS Project, our largest initiative to date. We believe that if we empower teachers to do their best work, increased achievement for students will follow. Ultimately, we're building a cadre of educators who are teacher leaders.”
The Chalkboard Project is funded by a unique coalition of six of Oregon’s largest foundations to combine academic research and civic engagement to improve the accountability, quality and funding of Oregon’s schools. Chalkboard is now expanding its teacher leader incentive plan from three school districts to 12 districts based on its initial success.
“Kate Dickson has been a driving force in Oregon’s educational community for more than 30 years,” said Stephen Reily, founder and CEO, VibrantNation.com. “Leveraging research which shows that having a highly effective teacher in every classroom is the most important factor in raising student achievement, she is creating a “best practice” for teacher leadership and training not just for Oregon but for other states as well.”
To learn more about the Chalkboard Project, please visit www.chalkboardproject.org.
VibrantNation.com will continue to announce and profile one Vibrant Giver each month. Because no one recognizes the strength in Vibrant Women better than other women like them, members of the site are invited to nominate others for this honor. To nominate a Vibrant Giver, visit http://www.VibrantNation.com/vibrant-giver.
About VibrantNation.com
VibrantNation.com is the leading online community devoted exclusively to the influential and fast-growing demographic of smart and successful women over 50. At Vibrant Nation, these women (whom we’ve named “Vibrant Women”) can look for tips, share information, and join smart conversations about work, style, relationships, wellness, books, and more.
Vibrant Women represent the healthiest, wealthiest, most educated generation of women in history, yet their real strengths and interests are generally ignored in the marketplace. As a result, they rely even more than others on support and information from other women like them when making important decisions. VibrantNation.com is the place where they can connect with other women at their lifestage and discuss the issues they are passionate about. For more information, please visit www.vibrantnation.com.
