Conversation with Distinguished Educator, Lisa Vahey

Hosted by Linda Belans, Ed.D

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Lisa began her career as a first grade teacher in Chicago where she was so successful that the University of Chicago made her classroom a demonstration project. She developed one of the best urban literacy practices with about 35 kids in the room. As Dick Streedain says: “An ordinary school with one spectacular teacher.” He knows her work because he coordinated Northwestern University's MAT Program, working with new teachers in urban schools. Lisa did induction for new teachers walking alongside them from student teaching through their first two years. This program was so successful that the University of Chicago invited her to oversee their teacher induction program – she's one of four or five people who have moved that program to national prominence. Lisa established the New Teacher Center's Chicago office, which has supported over 1,000 new teachers and increased their retention rate in the city's hardest to staff schools. Lisa is at the forefront of education, involved in policy making as part of Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and President Obama's Race to the Top.