State calls Rios & Smiley ‘Outstanding’
Nancy Horst, Special to the Gazette
Friday, May 1, 2009
An Emporia student and an administrator brought home two state awards presented last week by the Kansas Association of Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (KATESOL).
EHS senior Jose Rios received the 2009 Outstanding Student Award for his academic accomplishments. Jose’s native language is Spanish and he has excelled in school, taking English Language Acquisition (ELA) classes. He will graduate in May among the top 10 percent of his class and he plans to attend Emporia State University in the fall. He is the son of Ricardo Rios and Adriana Soriano Sandoval.
Patricia Smiley, director of instruction, received the 2009 Outstanding Administrator Award. Dr. Smiley oversees the ELA program in the Emporia district and is responsible for training new teachers in methods that improve learning for second-language learners. Over the past six years, academic performance of English language learners in Emporia schools has improved dramatically in both reading and math, based on state assessment results. Dr. Smiley is a former teacher and principal in the Emporia Public Schools. She has been a member of the district’s Teaching and Learning Department since 2002.
KATESOL was formed to provide professional development for teachers of students whose first language is not English. The awards were presented during the 2009 KATESOL Conference at Emporia State University.