Milken Educator
Secretary of Education Pedro A. Rivera joined students,
teachers, and administrators at Marple Newtown High School in the Marple Newtown School District on October 3,
2019, to surprise educator Elizabeth
Landes with the 2019 Milken Educator Award and a $25,000 check.
Landes is known as a data-driven instructor, using formative
and summative student achievement data to differentiate her lesson plans on a
daily basis. She always asks to have underperforming students added to her
schedule and voluntarily conducts tutoring and test preparation sessions after
school. Landes works with other teachers on differentiation strategies, and
secondary teachers across the district use her lesson plans as templates. She
helps teachers take and pass Praxis tests and is helping the district
incorporate the Performance Expectations of the Next Generation Science
Standards. Landes runs her high school’s AP Science Summer Institute and has
worked on technology, AP, grading, and lab report revisions committees.
Creating a caring culture of service matters to Landes. For Earth Day, she
works with high school students to bring relevant environmental science education
to a nearby elementary school. She serves as a Delaware County Hi-Q faculty
advisor and facilitates a virtual environmental science course through the
Bridges Virtual Online Education Consortium.
Elizabeth is the only educator to earn this distinction in
Pennsylvania in 2019. For more than 30 years, the Milken Foundation has
recognized outstanding teachers throughout the nation, and to date, has
bestowed the Milken Educator Award on more than 2,700 educators. Each award
recipient receives an unrestricted $25,000 award as well as continued
networking and professional development opportunities. Learn more about the Milken
Educator Awards.