EDUCATOR
I am a National Board Certified Teacher in the area of Exceptional Needs Specialist, Early Childhood through Adulthood (ENS-ECYA). I spent 14 years teaching in Title I schools. As a teacher, I sought collaborative partnerships with diverse families and opportunities to share resources through my classroom website and classroom loaning library of resources. I was successful funding more than $4000 in grants for my classroom while working in low-income schools. In 2020, I transitioned out of the classroom to focus on mentoring and professional development. I have recently designed an 8-module learning series for national distribution and co-taught a university course about educational advocacy.
LEADER
I serve as a Candidate Support Provider for teachers seeking their National Board Certification. In this role, I utilize techniques from Cognitive Coaching to facilitate thinking and promote reflection for my online cohort. While in Deer Valley Unified School District, I built a sustainable National Boards Program that grew from one candidate to 39 over three years. I am passionate about retaining teachers in the field and encouraging their leadership to advance the profession. I served four years as an induction coach for early career special education teachers while in Glendale Elementary School District. I am a trained Arizona Hope Street Group Teacher Fellow Alumni, confident approaching policy makers at local, state, and federal levels to advance the profession through dialogue.
RESEARCHER
I completed my doctoral research in Educational Leadership and Innovation at ASU. My dissertation was about increasing team leadership skills for early career teachers who supervise paraeducators (assistants) in their classroom. Few special education teachers receive leadership training during teacher preparation, but effective collaboration increases student progress and team happiness. My dissertation and additional information about my research is available on this website. As an AZ Hope Street Teacher Fellow, I conducted focus groups and contributed ideas that yielded the 2017 Advisory Brief about teaching conditions in Arizona. In 2018, I completed a small qualitative exploration among National Board Certified Teachers to understand how administrators can better support National Board Candidates. I summarized the findings, created an infographic, and published Ace in the Hand: Principal Support for National Board Candidates on The Standard, a blog on the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards website.
ADVOCATE
As an advocate for the teaching profession, I believe in sharing stories from our schools and increasing teacher leadership in the field. In 2014, I launched a teacher leadership blog collaborative called Lead from -IN- the Classroom. This blog is about re-defining teacher leadership in the image of "everyday leaders" to eliminate the idea that teachers have to leave the classroom to have a voice. I was a paid monthly contributor on the Arizona K12 Center blog, Stories from Schools AZ from 2014-2020. The mission of this blog is to "tell stories of how policy decisions impact learning and teaching in order to spark constructive dialogue across the education community." As a mom to a child with special needs, I also seek to bring my family's stories to life and improve understanding between parents and the education community. In one recent example, I shared key points for educators to consider in a piece called Getting Real: Special Needs Families. I am passionate about equitable practices that produce successful outcomes for all the nation's children, and I seek to join an organization full-time that puts equity first in their mission.
ARTIST
Art makes the world beautiful, and I enjoy making things more visually interesting! I've created art to improve my workplace and my home life. Please check out my art gallery to view my diverse work. I'm a member of SCBWI and 12x12, participate in a critique group, and I'm actively working on a few picture books. I loved my time in the classroom teaching art to preschool children through project-based learning, exploring mediums like pastels and watercolors that aren't always offered to kids, and extending literature through different forms of art expression. I firmly believe children should be free to create original work rather than creating cookie-cutter projects that decrease their chance for self-expression. As an author, I was first published in Beanie Baby Stories (1999). I was a paid contributor on Stories From School AZ (2014-20), and I've been published twice on the NBPTS blog The Standard twice. I've also had a blog cross-published on the National Education Policy Center [NEPC]. Currently, I am writing at Redefining "Teacher," a new blog I launched in 2020.
JESS LEDBETTER RESUME
I am a National Board Certified Teacher in the area of Exceptional Needs Specialist, Early Childhood through Adulthood (ENS-ECYA). I spent 14 years teaching in Title I schools. As a teacher, I sought collaborative partnerships with diverse families and opportunities to share resources through my classroom website and classroom loaning library of resources. I was successful funding more than $4000 in grants for my classroom while working in low-income schools. In 2020, I transitioned out of the classroom to focus on mentoring and professional development. I have recently designed an 8-module learning series for national distribution and co-taught a university course about educational advocacy.
LEADER
I serve as a Candidate Support Provider for teachers seeking their National Board Certification. In this role, I utilize techniques from Cognitive Coaching to facilitate thinking and promote reflection for my online cohort. While in Deer Valley Unified School District, I built a sustainable National Boards Program that grew from one candidate to 39 over three years. I am passionate about retaining teachers in the field and encouraging their leadership to advance the profession. I served four years as an induction coach for early career special education teachers while in Glendale Elementary School District. I am a trained Arizona Hope Street Group Teacher Fellow Alumni, confident approaching policy makers at local, state, and federal levels to advance the profession through dialogue.
RESEARCHER
I completed my doctoral research in Educational Leadership and Innovation at ASU. My dissertation was about increasing team leadership skills for early career teachers who supervise paraeducators (assistants) in their classroom. Few special education teachers receive leadership training during teacher preparation, but effective collaboration increases student progress and team happiness. My dissertation and additional information about my research is available on this website. As an AZ Hope Street Teacher Fellow, I conducted focus groups and contributed ideas that yielded the 2017 Advisory Brief about teaching conditions in Arizona. In 2018, I completed a small qualitative exploration among National Board Certified Teachers to understand how administrators can better support National Board Candidates. I summarized the findings, created an infographic, and published Ace in the Hand: Principal Support for National Board Candidates on The Standard, a blog on the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards website.
ADVOCATE
As an advocate for the teaching profession, I believe in sharing stories from our schools and increasing teacher leadership in the field. In 2014, I launched a teacher leadership blog collaborative called Lead from -IN- the Classroom. This blog is about re-defining teacher leadership in the image of "everyday leaders" to eliminate the idea that teachers have to leave the classroom to have a voice. I was a paid monthly contributor on the Arizona K12 Center blog, Stories from Schools AZ from 2014-2020. The mission of this blog is to "tell stories of how policy decisions impact learning and teaching in order to spark constructive dialogue across the education community." As a mom to a child with special needs, I also seek to bring my family's stories to life and improve understanding between parents and the education community. In one recent example, I shared key points for educators to consider in a piece called Getting Real: Special Needs Families. I am passionate about equitable practices that produce successful outcomes for all the nation's children, and I seek to join an organization full-time that puts equity first in their mission.
ARTIST
Art makes the world beautiful, and I enjoy making things more visually interesting! I've created art to improve my workplace and my home life. Please check out my art gallery to view my diverse work. I'm a member of SCBWI and 12x12, participate in a critique group, and I'm actively working on a few picture books. I loved my time in the classroom teaching art to preschool children through project-based learning, exploring mediums like pastels and watercolors that aren't always offered to kids, and extending literature through different forms of art expression. I firmly believe children should be free to create original work rather than creating cookie-cutter projects that decrease their chance for self-expression. As an author, I was first published in Beanie Baby Stories (1999). I was a paid contributor on Stories From School AZ (2014-20), and I've been published twice on the NBPTS blog The Standard twice. I've also had a blog cross-published on the National Education Policy Center [NEPC]. Currently, I am writing at Redefining "Teacher," a new blog I launched in 2020.
JESS LEDBETTER RESUME
JESS LEDBETTER CURRICULUM VITAE
