Giving Compass' Take:

• Mandy Manning, who was voted Teacher of the Year in 2018, discusses her thoughts on how the education system can improve when it comes to teaching immigrants and refugees. 

• Manning believes in having teachers help formulate education policy. How will incorporating teacher voice in this process helpful for all schools?

• Read about Mandy Manning's visit to the White House. 

Washington State’s “Teacher of the Year” has long had a large fanbase in her students. But now she can count millionaire Bill Gates as one of her champions, too.

Mandy Manning, who works at Ferris High School’s Newcomer Center in Spokane and specializes in teaching English language development to immigrants and refugees, received a huge shoutout and video interview with the Microsoft mogul in his GatesNotes blog as part of his foundation’s back-to-school awareness campaign, reported Fast Company.

Eighty percent of Manning’s students are refugees from countries such as Syria, Myanmar, Sudan, and other conflict zones. The school serves a population that speaks 77 different languages, according to the report.

Manning was spotlighted not only for her work encouraging young minds, but also for urging teachers to become more active in shaping education policy and for her activism demanding legislators engage with local schools.

Manning wrote that she has witnessed firsthand how teachers can influence change when she attempted to distill a federal law in Washington State. The law was meant to improve kids’ access to recess in order to promote health and fitness, but was “vague enough to be interpreted differently among school districts,” according to the report.

“This is a prime example of how educators can use their experience to impact local policy,” Manning said. “As the people who interact with students every day, we know what is best for them in the classroom, and we must lead not only in carrying out policies, but in developing them in the first place.”

Read the full article about Mandy Manning by Joanna Prisco at Global Citizen