Tara St. Clair, Pembroke Elementary, JoAnna Mills-Sampson, Diamond Springs Elementary, Brian Meechan, Green Run Collegiate and Mika Tanaka, Plaza Middle School were selected to participate in the Virginia Center for Excellence in Teaching (VCET), a new, highly selective professional development program for teachers, which launched this summer at George Mason University.

These teachers are four of Virginia’s 100 best teachers selected to attend one of four innovative summer academies focused on classroom instruction, education policy and leadership.

“We had an excellent pool of applicants with more than 800 teachers who signed up from all across the state,” said Dr. Elizabeth Sturtevant, VCET director. “One of the goals of the program is to create networks of outstanding teachers who support each other and work together to improve public education in Virginia.”

The VCET programs offer teachers advanced leadership training, including time on Capitol Hill to learn how to leverage the legislative process to benefit education; the latest information and insights on research-based teaching with an experiential and discussion-based curriculum that interweaves current research for teaching diverse learners and for incorporating new technologies; and five graduate credits, which totals approximately 150 points toward the 180-point requirement needed to maintain a Virginia teaching license.