Congrats to Ashley Hernandez, a high school math educator from Florida who has earned a prestigious Milken Award for 2021-2022. Photo Credit: Herald Tribune
Congratulations are in order for Ashley Hernandez, a high school math educator from Florida who has earned a prestigious Milken Award for 2021-2022. The award honors exemplary teachers nationwide, and has been given to only about 60 educators this year.
Ashley, whose career as an educator spans 14 years, currently teaches Geometry and Advanced Placement Statistics in grades nine through twelve at Riverview High School in Sarasota, Florida. “Teachers like Ashley Hernandez have a special gift for making students feel heard and valued,” asserts Stephanie Bishop, Milken Educator Awards Vice President. “Her positive attitude and compassion for the transitions and challenges that high schoolers face create an environment where students can excel in their academic journey and beyond,” Bishop continues.
In addition to her responsibilities in the classroom, Ashley serves on her school’s instructional leadership team and she is a member of her district’s leadership academy. In addition, she delivers professional development sessions on student engagement and instructional technology. Throughout the pandemic, Ashley worked tirelessly to help her school’s staff master internet tools such as Zoom, Blackboard, Gradebook, and Microsoft Teams. And as if all this were not enough, Ashely she leads the PBIS (Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports) data team on her campus
It is her work with the PBIS that caught the attention of the Milken Awards committee. “She does so much beyond the confines of the classroom,” says Bishop. “Ashley really embodies everything that we’re looking for in an American Educator Award recipient. She is doing everything in terms of not only exemplifying academic excellence, but she is just going above and beyond to make sure that students hold needs are being met at that school,” Bishop concludes.
Ashley earned her Bachelor’s degree in Secondary Math Education from the University of South Florida in 2008. She has also earned two Master’s degrees from American College of Education, one in Curriculum and Instruction in 2013 and the other in Educational Leadership in 2018.
