"I teach integrity and values at the fundamental level and I build self-esteem, self-confidence and self-discipline in my students," says Rosalind Hurley-Richards, a fifth-grade teacher at Squires Elementary School in Lexington. After 18 years of managerial experience in the corporate world, Mrs. Hurley-Richards has returned to the classroom exceptionally well-equipped to serve as a liaison between the business world and the classroom. As a teacher in her school's School-to-Work program, sponsored by the National Alliance for Restructuring Education, she has introduced curriculum revisions that accurately reflect business-world expectations. A pilot teacher for the Kentucky Department of Education's Mathematics Portfolio Research and Development Project, Mrs. Hurley-Richards has worked together with her students to develop new instructional models for the state's mathematics instruction and assessment portfolio. The Kentucky Department of Education named Mrs. Hurley-Richards 1997 Kentucky Teacher of the Year.
