San Lorenzo Teacher Earns $10,000 Teaching Award

The KIPP Foundation has announced that Padmini Jambulapati, a 6th grade reading teacher at KIPP Summit Academy in San Lorenzo, has won a 2014 Harriett Ball Excellence in Teaching Award.

Jambulapati is one of 10 educators nationwide to win this year’s award, which was presented during an awards ceremony on Thursday evening at the Toyota Center in Houston, TX. She will receive $10,000 in recognition of her exemplary work in the classroom.

The Harriett Ball Excellence in Teaching Award is given annually to a select group of educators from the national KIPP network of public charter schools. School leaders from KIPP’s 31 regional school networks nominate teachers for the award based on their track record of improving student outcomes, their leadership in their classrooms and throughout their schools, and their commitment to helping their students climb the mountain to and through college.

Jambulapati has said that she “works for kids.” In her 6th grade reading class at KIPP Summit Academy, students keep literary journals, construct persuasive arguments, and learn how to lead debates and panel discussions, to the point where they can do it entirely on her own. She has built a massive library in her classroom, working directly with publishers and using every available resource to buy more books for her students.As a result, nearly 90 percent of her student scored Proficient or Advanced on last year’s California State Test.

“Padmini is a teacher who believes in every student regardless of their background and learning styles,” said Ric Zappa, school leader of KIPP Summit Academy. “She develops and nurtures a love of reading and learning in her classroom and is one of the most determined and grittiest teachers I have ever known.”

The Harriett Ball Excellence in Teaching Award honors the legacy of Harriett Ball, a visionary educator and mentor teacher. A 35-year teaching veteran of Houston and Austin public schools, Ball incorporated chants, songs and movement to get her students engaged and learning in the classroom. In late 1992, Ball began mentoring Teach for America corps members Mike Feinberg and Dave Levin in Houston. Inspired by her methods, Feinberg and Levin founded the Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) in 1994. KIPP, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, has grown to a national network of 162 college preparatory public charter schools serving more than 58,000 students in 20 states and Washington, D.C.

“Padmini Jambulapati and the nine other recipients of the Harriett Ball Excellence in Teaching Award are leading the way in our quest to do whatever it takes to help students succeed,” said Richard Barth, CEO of the KIPP Foundation. “Their skill and passion as educators are inspiring to all of us, as we work to help our KIPPsters climb the mountain to and through college.”