LifeChanger of the Year Nominee Profile

Dr. Sherri Wilson was nominated by her colleague, Melissa Bobis.

Dr. Wilson started her career with a dream, way back when she was growing up. Her father, the late Jim Dave Wilson III, paved the way for her by modeling what it meant to be an educational administrator in Elizabeth, NJ for over 40 years. He stressed the importance of integrity and human condition, not only by raising his daughter, but by instilling a deep love and a powerful connection to the process of education and the inevitable success that would come if she were to follow through!

Her mother, Mrs. Ruby Wilson, was also a dedicated administrator in Newark, NJ for 42 years. She gave Dr. Wilson the precise framework she needed to far surpass both of her parents' success. Dr. Wilson graduated from Western New England University in Springfield, MA with a degree in Government and a minor in Philosophy. Her experience propelled her straight into American International College, also located in Springfield, MA. There, she earned Masters in Public Administration, which enabled her to earn her role in the United States Department of the Treasury, where she worked for over seven years.

During this time, Dr. Wilson was given an opportunity to teach a class called Introduction to Philosophy at Springfield Technical Community College, which paralleled her expertise. While teaching, she felt a significant paradigm shift, and realized that it was time to follow in her parent's footsteps! She began her career in K-12 education at Carmen A. Race Intermediate Middle School, in Bloomfield, CT. Here, she taught life skills to at-risk, eighth grade students in a dropout prevention setting. Many people would struggle with this type of teaching environment, but not Dr. Wilson. She took a strong hold of these children and used her father's lessons on human connectivity in order to help her students see a side of themselves that contradicted what society had been telling them. She corralled their minds and hearts, helping to raise their state-test scores and self-worth!

As the year 2000 began, Dr. Wilson packed her bags for warmer temperatures, and a job teaching social studies at Silver Lakes Middle School in North Lauderdale, FL. She continued teaching for ten years, consistently moving the needle on Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test scores so much so that the principals took notice. She was presented with the opportunity to work outside the classroom and become the Writing Coach at Deerfield Beach Middle School. Here, she helped 6th, 7th and 8th graders strengthen their writing skills. She inevitably became part of the team that brought Deerfield from a C to a B school.

Other principals wanted that type of excellence at their schools, as well, and Dr. Wilson began to receive offers from around the county. She ended up at Forest Glen Middle School in Coral Springs, FL under the leadership of James McDermott, who also served as an educator in Broward County for over 25 years. He put her in place as the school's head curriculum Specialist, and immediately put her to work insuring that the lowest 25th percentile of struggling readers at his school were all able to make learning gains in order to help the school maintain its A status in the county. She did just that! With that experience behind her, and at Mr. McDermott's urging to keep following the path of excellence her parents outlined for her, she moved to the District Level. She traveled to Title 1 Schools, working one on one with administrators, educators and students to create better English Language Arts learners and strengthen test scores.

After a little over a year and a half, Dr. Wilson knew she was ready and wanted to use her leadership skills in a fuller capacity. She was fueled by the desire to become an administrator and put her ambitious feelers out into the ether. In 2011, her motivation paid off, and she secured a job as seventh grade administrator at William Dandy Middle School, in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. In this role, she helped maintain the school's A rating for a continuation of their 8 year success. She was able to personally complete her research on culturally-relevant literature and its specific impact, not only on eliciting higher reading scores, but on lowering disciplinary suspensions for African American Girls between the ages of 12-14.

Her research showed that the black female students could increase their test scores by nearly 17% if given the opportunity to read literature they connected to on a personal level. The CLRM-treatment implementation showed that discipline issues among the variable group also improved. Girls who had between 5-10 suspensions and were exposed to CLRM, reduced their suspension-rate to zero in the 90 day post-implementation period. Dr. Wilson was able to show that the girls who were influenced by CLRM behaved in a more positive way, helping the students shift from an external orientation-viewpoint to the ever-vital internal-orientation they so desperately need.

Attucks Middle School in Hollywood, FL was her next move. She streamlined her leadership skills from 2013-2015, and Dr. Wilson went from 6th grade Administration to 7th grade Administration. In her first year, Dr. Wilson took Attucks from a C to a B rating based on the combination of English Language and Math scores for her incoming 6th graders. From that moment, she knew between her professional-development skills, classroom achievements, ambitions beyond the administrative offices, and passion for being an architect of education, that a principalship was her next move.

Dr. Wilson followed her inner-voice, and the voices called for her to lead the way. She became principal of Plantation Middle School at the beginning of the 2015-2016 school year, and it is the seat she proudly and most successfully sits in today! Dr. Wilson hit the halls running, knowing that the needs of her faculty, staff, and most importantly, her students were situated on a grand scale!

Her first step was to recognize the most vital needs and prioritize as many as she could, so when the doors opened at the beginning of her first year, everyone would be ready and set to go! Plantation Middle School was a D school with an enrollment of 700 and a teaching staff of 45. Dr. Wilson knew her next step was to do what her father would have done, and communicate the pathways to success in the clearest terms possible. Design-thinking, collaboration and consistent team-work were in order, to help her largest group of students to-date. Her goal was to help students find within themselves the motivation to reach levels of success and break institutional barriers that, before Wilson, they never believed they could break.

Working closely with the ESE, ELL and lowest 25th percentile students, Dr. Wilson knew that the teachers could make great strides in helping not only individual students level-up, but the school, as well. Using her background in Literacy and Writing, Dr. Wilson focused on the ELA and Reading groups first, making sure they understood the true principles of learning so they could impart this within their classes: Structure. Effort. Active Learning. Most importantly, she helped the children understand the Relevance of the lessons, not just within the parameters of their classrooms, but how these lessons would help them achieve greater feelings of success outside the classroom and within themselves.

Dr. Wilson changed the aesthetics of the school to start the infusion of Social-Emotional-Learning on a very basic-level. Giving the school a visual overhaul, she contracted an artist and had her paint murals illustrating culturally prolific images, language, and a sensory feeling that Plantation Middle was not just a school, but a place for warmth and community.  She helped her staff better understand the new state requirements of the Florida State Assessment and how they could use their variety of expertise in order to help the students comprehend the elevated rigor that was expected of them. She introduced Project Based Learning, five years before it was a 'ring-leader of learning' in the county of Broward. Cross-Curriculum teaching, Vertical Teaming and a streamlined pursuit of the end-game were all on her mind before she heard the first bell ring. An expectation that the achievement-gap can and will be closed is her mantra. Evidence of excellence was also an expectation of teachers and students alike. Data is 'Wilson's Law,'  and everyone knows it. Students have continually come to Plantation with 15% lower proficiency-levels in both Reading and Math. With Dr. Wilson at the helm, the school has consistently moved the needle towards proficiency.  Her energy, attitude, focus on work ethic, persistence, and passion for the platforms of education helped raise the school's grade from a D to a C. Over the past four years she has aggressively maintained this status with every changing state formulae that raises the bar annually. Her current eighth graders came to Plantation, as a group, with a proficiency-level equivalent to an F. If the grades were solely-based on that individualized group, their levels would be well beyond a C. 

Chinese is not only an important language worldwide, but the most widely spoken and fastest-growing because of its increase in presence in global-business. Learning Chinese is one of the best ways to open the doors to a litany of other career opportunities. By offering Chinese, schools are preparing their students to enter a competitive 21st Century marketplace. Incorporating Chinese early can influence a child’s entire academic career. If they're fluent by the time they apply to universities, students can stand out from their competition and land an acceptance letter from the school of their dreams. 

This is why, under Dr. Wilson's leadership, Plantation Middle's International Baccalaureate Program was so excited to be chosen to host a fully-funded Mandarin Chinese teacher for the second consecutive year, as part of the 2019-2020 Teachers of Critical Languages Program (TCLP). Partnering with American Councils for International Education, a Washington, DC organization that implements the program, Plantation Middle School is leading the way for other schools to follow.

Through this program, Dr. Wilson's school was paired-up with a highly qualified English teacher from the People’s Republic of China. Dr. Wilson introduced the guest teacher, Huang Chan, and Chan has already proved herself to be an asset in the continuing expansion and sustainability of Plantation's Mandarin program. 

Under Dr. Wilson's orchestration, and guidance, Ms. Huang teaches beginning Mandarin Chinese, Chinese I and Chinese II for high school credit. She continues to expand a curriculum consistent with the Frameworks for Foreign Languages (1999) that focuses on the four modalities of the Chinese language: speaking, listening, reading and writing. She is incorporating information and activities relating to Chinese culture and history, and will host a Chinese New Year celebration program in January at Plantation Middle School. Dr. Wilson arranged for Ms. Huang to teach two blocks of Chinese classes a day, which allows her to be engaged in cross-curricular learning opportunities. This allows students, not otherwise exposed to Chinese language and culture to access valuable information. In addition, Ms Huang has started a Chinese Culture after school club where students will be learning Kungfu, Taiji, Calligraphy, Painting, Paper Cutting, Dancing, Folk Music, Chess, Chinese Knot. These are all activities which Dr. Wilson clearly recognizes are a catapult for these children to exceed expectations as their future blossoms. 

Dr. Wilson has collaborated with Peters and Mirror Lake Elementary School, also in Plantation, FL, on a unique outreach opportunity, facilitating their 4th and 5th graders for the entire school year with Ms. Huang. She will expose these students to the Chinese language and various cultural activities. The students will also be performing as part of the Chinese New Year Program at Plantation Middle. 

Dr. Wilson knows and appreciates the Chinese Language, respects the culture and is cognizant that the exposure can leave an everlasting footprint in the minds of our young learners and create a highly beneficial difference in their educational experience! 

"I am so proud of Dr. Wilson's accomplishments and her vital work with students, faculty and staff for all of these years. I am honored to have her as a colleague and a friend," said Bobis.