Jefferson-Scranton Spanish teacher Beth Vander Wilt has been named the high school Educator of the Year by the Iowa World Language Association (IWLA). The IWLA has a membership of about 290.
Vander Wilt has taught at JSHS for 20 years. The Educator of the Year award is not the first time Vander Wilt has been honored by her peers. In 2002, she and JSHS French teacher Julie Carlson were presenters at the Central States Foreign Language Conference after being selected as the "Best of Iowa" at the IWLA state conference. Vander Wilt and Carlson presented the S.T.A.R. (Students Talk and Review) assessment strategies they had developed. Vander Wilt has published the S.T.A.R. program to make it available to all world language teachers.
Also in 2002, Vander Wilt achieved national board certification through the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. She was one of only two world language teachers in Iowa to achieve the certification that year, the first year the certification was available in that subject area. "Beth is an innovative and excellent teacher. She is willing to share ideas and has presented at many conferences. Her hard work and dedication to the teaching profession has paid off and we are very proud of her," said Amy Alarcon, who also teaches Spanish at JSHS.
Beth and her husband Keith live in Jefferson with their daughters, Heather and Emily.
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