Teachers and administrators attending the Bethlehem Area School District’s annual convocation learned both the winners of the 2017 BEST (Bethlehem Educational Scholastic Trust) Awards and heard from Pennsylvania’s Secretary of Education Pedro Rivera, who was keynote speaker.

Best Award recipients were Kim Donatelli (posthumously), a first grade teacher at Governor Wolf ES, who received the Seymour and Sophie Haber Award for excellence in teaching at the elementary level; Theodora Loupos-Augustino, a language arts and reading teacher at Nitschmann MS, who received the Bernie Cohen Award for excellence in teaching at the middle school level; and, Jennifer Cierech, a Spanish teacher at Freedom HS, who received the Anthony Ruggiero Award for excellence in teaching at the high school level. After a valiant battle with cancer Donatelli passed away in April and Cierech was unable to attend. Each was represented by family members.

Secretary Rivera discussed the overall change “of how we view education across the Commonwealth” telling the assembled educators that reliance on standardized tests as a single measure “should never be an indicator.”

Rivera said assessments should be used to inform and plan instruction earlier in the school year. “We need to identify what students need while working to improve their strengths and identifying their needs,” Rivera said.