… Laura Guelcher worked as a founding WPCS Board member to craft the curriculum that earned WPCS its charter in 2018. Her goal for this year is to work alongside all staff, students, and families to make the most of our integrated standards-based learning in a hands-on manner. In 2016 she returned to the Baltimore area after spending 9 years teaching in Atlanta. Laura’s last 2 years in Atlanta were as a founding teacher and Director of Curriculum and Instruction (DCI) at Chattahoochee Hills Charter School. As DCI, Laura worked with grade levels to integrate the arts, agriculture, and nature into Common Core-based curriculum, lessons, projects and assessments. Additional responsibilities included observing, coaching, mentoring, and modeling effective lessons in the classroom setting and during staff meetings. She also served as Testing Coordinator, Administrative Advocate for all IEP meetings, headed the Curriculum Committee, Title 1 Coordinator, and created school-wide initiatives to quantitatively demonstrate the impact of the integrated curriculum on student achievement. During her time teaching in Georgia, she earned her Teacher Support Specialist endorsement to enable her to mentor novice educators and student teachers in the development of their own professional skills. She was then invited to write the countywide standardized tests used by 2nd graders to establish student growth and learning targets in all content areas. Laura was also an author of the county’s ELA curriculum and led cadre classes for 2nd and 3rd grade educators as the Lead ELA 2nd grade teacher for Clayton County. She was honored to be named Teacher of the Year at Suder Elementary in 2013 and earn her Teacher Leader endorsement to further impact within the county.