Newark Teacher Earns Milken Educator Award, Gets $25,000

Newark, NJ - Allison Cuttler, a computer science teacher at Uncommon Schools’ North Star Academy College Preparatory High School in Newark, has been awarded the Milken Educator Award.

Cuttler received $25,000 for winning the award, which Teacher magazine described as “The Oscars of Teaching.”

According to a release, in only her second year teaching AP Computer Science course at North Star, 100 percent of Cuttler’s students passed the exam.

Nationwide, only 64 percent of students passed the exam, according to a release.

Cuttler also founded an after school “Girls Who Code” club, a release stated.

According to a release, all of Cuttler’s students are black or Latino, and most of them qualify for free or reduced price lunch.

In New Jersey, there were just 39 African- Americans who passed the AP Computer Science exam – 10 of whom were from North Star Academy, a release stated.

“Allison Cuttler reminds us what is possible with great teaching,” said Paul Bambrick-Santoyo, Chief Schools Officer for HS and K-12 Content Development at Uncommon Schools. “She has taken on one of the biggest gaps in education: the participation and performance of African-American and Latino students in the STEM field.”

Photo courtesy of Uncommon Schools