Despite growing up in a family of educators, Kathryn Alwon Brenner thought she would choose a different path. However, while working at a juvenile detention center during college, she committed to positively impact students’ lives before they reached the court system. This has remained Ms. Alwon’s focus during her time with D.C. Public Schools. She explains, “Our children are insightful, curious, caring, and resilient. While teaching is a difficult job, watching students improve makes everything worth it.”

Ms. Alwon has taught reading and English Language Arts for the past six years. Every year, her class began by setting a goal to be the highest achieving middle school students in the entire district. “I think it’s important to set the bar high for students,” Ms. Alwon explains. “When students see that you truly believe that they can achieve, they give it their full effort.” At MacFarland Middle School in 2012-13, 100 percent of her students grew two or more years in reading or reached grade level. Last year at Jefferson, despite teaching a large class with significant learning challenges, 83 percent of students grew two or more years in reading or reached grade level, while 91 percent grew two proficiency levels on the PARCC writing rubric. Now in her first year as a full-time instructional coach at Jefferson, Ms. Alwon feels lucky to have the opportunity to scale her impact, but still misses the classroom. “Even now, I try to ensure that every interaction I have with students pushes them academically, and also shows them that I care and will support them.”