It was mostly for service credits that Rebecca Roberts took up tutoring while she was a student at Long Beach City College. But that simple act of volunteering her time caused a light to go off in her head.
It was mostly for service credits that Rebecca Roberts took up tutoring while she was a student at Long Beach City College. But that simple act of volunteering her time caused a light to go off in her head.
She was helping a middle school student named Sam who was not likely to be promoted to high school. Her commitment to Sam helped him care about his own education and Sam was able to turn his grades around and get promoted to high school.
For Roberts, it gave her a sense of satisfaction that she was able to help even one student better his chances of success in school. She decided to take her life in the direction of helping more children in a similar way.
Because of her efforts, Roberts has become one of three finalists for National Assistant Principal of the year. The Los Alamitos native is the Assistant Principal for Curriculum and Guidance at Villa Park High School. Her path to the final three included regional and state wins and started with an essay she wrote about her goals.
“Although there are many administrative tasks I complete on a daily basis, nothing is more important than the student standing in front of me,” Roberts wrote in her essay.
That philosophy has been her guiding light in her quest to help students as a whole, by focusing individual attention to each one. It was one of the ideals that Villa Park Principal Ed Howard saw in her almost immediately when he interviewed and hired Roberts in 2007.
“Her relentless pursuit of what’s in the best interest of each individual kid,” Howard said is what sets Roberts apart.
Roberts graduated from Los Alamitos High in 1994. She earned a BA in Anthropology and a BS in Mathematics, both from Cal State Long Beach. She would go on to earn her educational doctorate from UC Irvine. She taught at Long Beach Wilson High and was an assistant principal at Las Flores Middle School before moving to Villa Park.
Roberts has made significant impacts at Villa Park High, revamping and expanding their EL program for students who are still learning English. The program has grown from one teacher to five with multiple levels for students, depending on their individual level of English understanding. She found a new way to help students who were behind on credits for graduation by developing a credit recovery program.
Students would have attended summer school to make up the credits, but the process was not as successful as it could have been and because of budget cuts and summer school was on the verge or being eliminated. The credit recovery program was an after-school program that proved effective enough that it soon became the model for the entire Orange Unified School District. It allowed for more student/teacher interaction and also more student accountability.
Another aspect that Roberts pushed at Villa Park was the recovery of the AVID program. AVID is a program that is designed to help students, particularly those in the middle range of academics, close the gap in being prepared for college. The program at Villa Park was also extinct, but Roberts was able to hire a coordinator and it now has more than 200 students involved in it.
She also spearheaded the creation of the Link Crew program, which teams upperclassmen as mentors to incoming freshman. Roberts found that many incoming freshmen were struggling with the transition to high school. By assigning mentors to groups of freshmen, it gave the new students someone to help them learn how to adapt to the high school workload. It also provided more opportunities for upperclassmen to feel involved in the school.
“Link Crew has really been able to expand leadership opportunities for upperclassmen. That’s really been awesome,” Roberts said.
But for Roberts the rewards have been a two-way street. Howard said that he had interviewed 19 people before he met Roberts, but knew shortly after meeting with her that bringing her on board was a “no-brainer.” Roberts, likewise, has said that she is lucky to work at a school that gives her the opportunities to make changes and try new things. She has engrained herself in the community by buying a house in Orange, on the border of Villa Park. Roberts is single and lives with her two rescued dogs, a Greyhound and Corgi Labrador.
“I love this place,” Roberts said.
Roberts will travel to Washington, D.C. in early March to make a presentation as one of the three finalists to determine a national winner. She is the first person in the history of the Orange Unified School District to get this far, Howard said. Howard called her a fireplug that simply outworks most people. As for her getting to the final three, “everyone is just ecstatic,” Howard said.
Roberts said she has been humbled by the whole experience and was shocked to reach the final three. Regardless of the outcome, Roberts said she will continue her pursuit of helping in the successful education of students.
“I’m fortunate enough to do that everyday,” Roberts said.