The Presidential Award validates that I am growing and improving professionally. I love learning and it is important to me that I continue to develop my teaching philosophy in a way that helps students gain a deeper understanding of mathematics and provides them with opportunities to learn and grow. I believe all students can think mathematically and their ideas should be acknowledged and celebrated within the classroom. I am very grateful for all the learning opportunities I have received.

Ashlee Scherer Pocatello, ID | 7-12, Mathematics, 2021

The official biography below was current at the time of the award.

Ashlee Scherer has been a secondary mathematics teacher for the past 23 years. She taught her first year at Kaneohe High in Hawaii, and then five years at Skyview High School. She currently teaches 10th-12th grades at Highland High School, where she has been teaching for the past 17 years. Several years ago, Ashlee helped transition her district's mathematics program to be integrated and implement a task-based learning curriculum called Mathematics Vision Project (MVP). After several professional development opportunities with the MVP authors, Ashlee fell in love with the task-based curriculum and their recommended implementation techniques. She currently works for the MVP authors, training other school districts throughout the country. Ashlee enjoys helping other teachers see the benefits of exposing students to multiple strategies, by giving students opportunities to present and model their mathematical thinking. Ashlee also works with Idaho State University’s Early College Program as a dual-credit instructor to offer her students college credit for classes taken at the high school level. She has been offering Math 1143, Math 1144, and Math 1170. Along with her colleague, Ashlee also took over the Advanced Placement Calculus program at Highland in August 2020. In the first year, 89% of the 38 students in the program passed the AP Exam with a score of 3 or higher. Ashlee truly enjoys teaching these advanced mathematics courses and helping students get college credit. Ashlee earned an associate degree in arts and science from Ricks College, a B.S. from Idaho State University in secondary education, and an MBA from the University of Phoenix. She is certified in both mathematics and chemistry secondary education.

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