Congratulations Ms. Versaci

Everyone knows that Kacie had perhaps the most difficult year of her life. She was hired by Teach For America to teach in a low-income school and agreed to teach learning disabled. After she got there she found out that the school she was hired for included children with discipline issues in her classes. Moreover, due to the bad economy there were numerous budget cuts throughout the school year that made her job even more difficult. She spent a good deal of her own money on her kids and had to deal with a pay cut, a cut in benefits and the elimination of substitute teachers, which meant whenever another teacher was out she had to cover for her and give up her down-time which was reserved for lesson planning.

Beyond all of that, Kacie was exposed to lots of viruses and was ill quite a bit.

Even so when the state test scores came back, 75% of her students passed in the A and B range, which is 10 points higher than the 65% goal set by the school. This is would be a notable achievement with average kids in an average school district. In her case I would use the word outstanding.

Congratulations Kacie. We are all very proud of you!