I am incredibly honored to be among this inspiring group of educators. The Presidential Award is a reflection of the incredible colleagues, mentors, and students I’ve had over the years, who have pushed me to learn and grow and have shaped me into the teacher I am today. This award inspires me to continue to advocate for high-quality mathematics education for all students and validates my beliefs in productive struggle, mathematical discourse, and student-centered learning.

Kristen Donavan Irvine, CA | 7-12, Mathematics, 2023

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

Kristen “Kristie” Summers Donavan has been a mathematics educator for the past 17 years. She taught mathematics at Woodbridge High School for seven years before serving as the High School Math Teacher on Special Assignment (TOSA) for the Irvine Unified School District (IUSD) for four years. She returned to Woodbridge High School in 2017, where she currently teaches Advanced Placement Calculus BC and Math Foundations to 9th-12th grade students. Throughout her career, Kristie has been known for supporting students and teachers alike. She has developed and taught new accelerated mathematics courses and strategic intervention programs to support students. She has created and provided professional learning for all IUSD teachers. In her classroom, she uses student-centered strategies and routines for reasoning to keep students engaged and actively learning. Kristie has presented sessions on standards progressions, mathematics intervention, effective instructional strategies, and Building Thinking Classrooms at the California Math Council (CMC) annual conferences and National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) annual conference and will be a featured speaker at the upcoming CMC-South Annual Conference. She was recently recognized as High School Teacher of the Year for Irvine Unified School District and as a semifinalist for Orange County Teacher of the Year. Kristie earned a B.S. in mathematical sciences from the University of California, Santa Barbara; a single subject credential in mathematics from the University of California, Irvine; and a Master of Arts in Education: Educational Administration with a preliminary administrative services credential from Concordia University Irvine. She is National Board Certified in mathematics for adolescence and young adulthood.

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