Abby Brown McNamee
Templeton Elementary
Foundation Educator

The majority of The Foundations dollars go to pay for Foundation Educators. Since the 2004/05 school year The Foundation has provided $400,000 to hire additional instructional staff in every Tigard-Tualatin school.

Foundation Educators provide direct support to students in the classroom giving teachers greater flexibility to better serve the individual needs of all their students. Schools are currently utilizing these Educators to help struggling students achieve in both math and reading; and in such specialized areas as band, school-to-work programs and drop-out intervention. Our belief is raising the bar for one student raises it for all and that a better education improves every aspect of our community. The Foundation Educators work for the benefit of all students and our whole community.

The Foundation Educator at Tualatin High School arranged real-life, one-on-one interviews for 450 freshmen with local employers. She also organized a professional-technical summit for the TuHS teachers in career pathways to link with business and college professionals. This resulted in ongoing relationships helpful in procuring a $55,000 engineering grant.

“Our Foundation Educator has made a tremendous difference in the math skills of our students. She meets with small groups; works in skill based groups, holds math game nights and consults with teachers on strategies for teaching math. She is a licensed teacher who has specific training to help students who struggle with either math or reading. The students love to see her arriving at Templeton. She makes math fun.”

Here is how our schools are using the $100,000 provided for the 2006-07 school year: