Rebecca Johnson, 2006 recipient of a Milken National Educator Award, has been an educator in the Las Vegas, NV, Clark County School District for twenty-two years. She earned her B.A. in Physical Education from Moorhead State University in 1990 and her M.Ed. in Educational Leadership from the University of Nevada in 1996. After teaching at the elementary and high school level over the course of eight years, she became an elementary school assistant principal in 1998 and was promoted to principal of Kirk L. Adams Elementary School in February of 2002. After a rigorous selection process, the Clark County School District piloted the Empowerment concept with four elementary schools during the 2006-2007 school year. In 2006, Kirk L. Adams became an Empowerment School with Rebecca at its helm. During her ten years as principal, the school has piloted several district-level innovations, including the Inclusive Schools Project, Response to Interventions, Instructional Data Management Service Lighthouse Project, and Standards-Based Grading.

Vicki Weatherman has been teaching for the Clark County School District in Las Vegas, NV for the past twenty years. She earned her B.S. in Education in 1991 from the University of Nevada. Her M.S. in Education was awarded by Nova South Eastern University in Ft. Lauderdale, FL in 1995. Additionally, she has earned thirty-two credits of post-masters work in education, completing an Advanced Studies Certificate from Touro University in Nevada, in the area of Response to Interventions (RTI). Vicki began her teaching career at a multi-age school where she taught a class of first and second grade students. After seven years of work in the multi-age classroom, Vicki moved to Kirk L. Adams Elementary School, where she spent the next seven years teaching second grade. In 2006, Kirk Adams Elementary School created an RTI Facilitator position; Vicki has held this position since its inception. During the last six years of working with struggling students, Vicki realized that the overwhelming majority of struggling students are not learning disabled. She has found that there are simply gaps in their learning, or they are behind due to poor instruction and lack of intervention supports. Working with a dedicated team of educators, Vicki has successfully implemented a high-quality RTI program, including a multi-tiered instructional system that has been instrumental in the schoolâ?Ts efforts to ensure all students are successful.