Posted January 23, 2024
Jennifer White was chosen by Denver Public Schools as a “Living Our DPS Honoree,” and was featured in the Team DPS Weekly newsletter, along with homepage of the DPS Staff Website, The Commons. Read her full nomination below.
“In the world of education, I think most would agree that proctoring testing is one of educators’ least favorite tasks on their long to-do lists. So anyone who can lead a room full of staff into an inspired applause about testing deserves a special type of recognition. And that is precisely what incited Denver Online to nominate ELD teacher, Jennifer White, for Living Our Shared Core Values.
When our staff was feeling a bit burned out on testing, she reinvigorated our entire team with the most beautiful speech about why ACCESS testing matters so much to our students. Jennifer oozes passion, not only for education as a whole, but especially for her ELL students. Jen was pivotal in growing the MLE program at Denver Online from a one-teacher department to now a department of four. When our school MLL population grew, she advocated for these students, enhancing programming and innovating supports in the online environment. She is deeply invested in elevating the significance of our Parent Advisory Council (PAC) Meetings, and when we saw a gap in our MTSS this year, she also took on that process to ensure that every student truly has the best shot at success.
Jen has always been a learner, continually asking the right questions and never being afraid to question her own perceptions and shift her work as she learns. Her teammates value her deep integrity and the way she works patiently with each student, being sensitive to their individual stories and situations while still holding them to high expectations and standards. She is data driven, persuasive without being overbearing, and her colleagues continually describe her as jumping in wholeheartedly and committing 100%. In collaboration with the rest of our stellar ELD team, her dedication to equity helped produce a 32% redesignation rate for our ELL student population (wow!).
Jen White not only helped us reframe our attitude about testing, but more importantly, helped to refocus our attention on the individual student stories we impact. We will applaud that level of character every day and are so grateful for her work.”
— Kaci Sintek, Denver Online