October 20th, 2015

I currently serve as Ashleys ASU iTeachAZ Site Coordinator during her senior year residency in
the Mesa Public School district. This letter of support will address three targeted areas:
leadership and professionalism, teaching and learning, and school/community involvement.
Ashley models leadership as a recipient of the SEED grant and is meeting all program
requirements, as a tutor for middle school students, and as a leader to the cohort. Ashley took
initiative to participate in these opportunities, and more importantly was selected to lead and
fulfill these roles. Ashley shows strengths in her ability to fulfill professional responsibilities at
her school and build and maintain professional relationships with others. She also shows a desire
to be a continuous learner by seeking out and attending professional development opportunities
above and beyond what is expected from her site principal and site coordinator. She is attending
an AEA professional development session this month and attended all STEM trainings over the
course of the year. Her commitment to professionalism was recognized three to five times
respectively over the course of the year using the professionalism rubric.
Ashley currently holds a 3.94 in the college. Effective teaching practices are evidenced through
her coursework and the application of knowledge and skills in her placement setting. Using both
formal and informal observations, we can see that Ashley shows significant and above proficient
skills in the areas of activities and materials, managing student behavior, knowledge of content,
and academic feedback. Ashley was reinforced in these four areas a total of seven times over the
course of the year. As a result of Ashleys most recent unit, middle school math students had an
average of 67% on quiz 1, 81% on quiz 2, 88% on quiz 3, and an 84% on the final unit test. It is
evident that Ashleys students are learning.
In the area of school/community involvement, Ashley participated in the Discover E training and
day at ASU, greeted attendees at the MLFTC iTeachAZ national conference, and assisted with
the site review process for the pre-conference, performance assessment, and post conference
components. In the district and at Stapley Jr. High, Ashley serves as the service learning
assistant, participated in Pi Day and two survivor competitions, and consistently attends and
contributes to professional learning community meetings. She also volunteered to participate on
the interview panel for the Mesa Public Schools Human Resources Department in their effort to
develop and refine the districts recruitment plan. We can see that Ashley has made positive
contributions to and is readily involved with both the college and Stapley Jr. High. If you have
any questions during these deliberations, please dont hesitate to contact me at 480-241-8630.

Sincerely,

Jessica DeBiase
ASU iTeachAZ Site Coordinator
Arizona State University
jessica.debiase@asu.edu