Auburn School District No. 408
915 4th Street Northeast, Auburn, WA  98002

12/01/04

NEWS RELEASE
Auburn Teacher Awarded Milken Family Foundation
National Educator Award for 2004

On Monday, November 29, Lisa Horn, fourth grade teacher at Gildo Rey Elementary School in Auburn, was awarded one of the top honors in education, the Milken Family Foundation National Educator Award for 2004.  Only 100 teachers are selected each year.  Along with the honor, Ms. Horn will be given $25,000 and an all-expenses-paid trip to a professional development conference held in Washington D.C.

Ms. Horn was surprised at an all-school assembly by Dr. Mary Alice Heuschel, deputy superintendent of the Office of Public Instruction (OSPI), announcing that Ms. Horn was the Milken recipient.  There are only two teachers selected in each state.  Dubbed the “Oscars of Teaching” by Teacher Magazine, the Milken award program was created in 1985 to attract, retain and reward outstanding k-12 teachers, principals and other education professionals who make important contributions to excellence in education.

Ms. Horn has garned other significant recognitions during the last six months.  Last spring, she was honored as the Auburn School District elementary teacher of the year.  During the summer, she was selected by the U.S. Department of Education to travel to Washington D.C., along with Erin Scott, a Hazelwood Elementary School language arts specialist, to attend an educational conference.  In September, Ms. Horn was selected as an American Star in Teaching by the U.S. Department of Education.

Ms. Horn began her teaching career at Cambridge Elementary School in Idaho where she taught third and fifth grade for the next four years in 1997.  In 2001, Ms. Horn began teaching fourth grade at Gildo Rey Elementary School and immediately stepped forward as the fourth grade team leader, mentor teacher, School Improvement Plan team member; Goal 1 and Goal 2 committees member; and pilot teacher for Larson’s Intermediate Math Program for her school, providing training to elementary and middle school teachers in the district.  Ms. Horn has worked very hard to integrate Grade Level Expectations with the state EALRS to produce focused and relevant lesson plans and instructional strategies to enable her fourth grade students to be successful.  Her students have realized incredible success over the past two years on the WASL assessment because of this focus.

For more information, contact Gildo Rey Elementary School principal, Robin Logan, at (253) 931-4952.