Marple Newtown Science Teacher Wins Prestigious Award, $25,000

BROOMALL, PA — A Marple Newtown High School science teacher was recently given a prestigious education award and got a sizable cash prize as well.

On Oct. 3, MNHS science teacher Elizabeth Landes was presented with the prestigious Milken Educator Award, which comes with a $25,000 cash prize, in a surprise ceremony.

Milken Educator Awards Senior Vice President Dr. Jane Foley and Pennsylvania Secretary of Education Pedro A. Rivera presented Landes with the award.

Landes is the only Milken Award recipient in Pennsylvania and among up to 40 honorees nationwide to receive the recognition during the 2019-20 season. She is the first from the Marple Newtown School District.

Hailed by Teacher magazine as the “Oscars of Teaching,” the goal of the Milken Educator Awards is to celebrate, elevate and activate the American teaching profession and inspire young, capable people to join it. The Milken Educator Award is not a lifetime achievement honor. Recipients are heralded while early to mid-career for what they have achieved — and for the promise of what they will accomplish given the resources and opportunities inherent in the Award.

“At a time when STEM instructors are in high demand, Elizabeth Landes is a role model for mentoring others and inspiring future scientists,” said Foley. “She is a masterful differentiator who works tirelessly to meet student needs across all levels of learning. I commend Elizabeth for her leadership and dedication, and proudly welcome her into the Milken Educator Network.”

Landes’ class average on the 2019 AP biology exam was 4.3 out of 5, with approximately 62 percent scoring a 5.

She is known as a data-driven instructor, using formative and summative student achievement data to differentiate her lesson plans on a daily basis. She always asks to have underperforming students added to her schedule and voluntarily conducts tutoring and test preparation sessions after school. Landes works with other teachers on differentiation strategies, and secondary teachers across the district use her lesson plans as templates. She helps teachers take and pass Praxis tests and is helping the district incorporate the Performance Expectations of the Next Generation Science Standards. Landes runs MNHS’ AP Science Summer Institute and has worked on technology, AP, grading and lab report revisions committees. She serves as a Delaware County Hi-Q faculty advisor and facilitates a virtual environmental science course through the Bridges Virtual Online Education Consortium.

Creating a caring culture of service matters to Landes. For Earth Day, she works with high school students to bring relevant environmental science education to a nearby elementary school. Every year the sophomore class at MNHS works together on Products10, a service and unity project Landes developed several years ago. Collaborating with nonprofits including UNICEF, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, hunger relief organization Philabundance, charity: water, and Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the sophomore classes have raised more than $34,000 under Landes’ guidance.

Landes earned a Bachelor of Science in biology and a Bachelor of Arts in psychology in 2005, as well as a master’s in education in 2006, from Villanova University.