The
Council for Learning Disabilities honors the 2012 Floyd G. Hudson Award
Recipients, Pati Montgomery and Melody Ilk
The Council for Learning Disabilities has awarded the distinguished
2012 Floyd G. Hudson Award to Pati Montgomery and Melody Ilk. Each year, the award is given
for outstanding performance and commitment by a professional who works
in the field of learning disabilities in a role outside of the classroom. This is the first year that CLD elected to recognize co-recipients.
Pati Montgomery and Melody Ilk have made significant contributions to the area of literacy interventions. These efforts have positively impacted student
achievement for students with disabilities as well as other at-risk populations during the last three decades of their careers.
As an elementary school principal, Ms. Montgomery was the first in the Jefferson County School District
to bring scientific-based reading research into practice. During this process she received an outstanding administrator
award from the Association from Retarded Citizens. While an elementary principal her school was recognized for closing the achievement gap
for students with special needs as well as minority groups. Ms. Montgomery’s school was a Reading First School and Pati served as the state Chairman
of the Reading First Principals’ Group. Her elementary school was awarded the Governor’s Distinguished Improvement Award. As a middle school principal,
Pati Montgomery wrote the Alameda Literacy Plan, an articulation-area literacy plan that served as a blueprint for systemic literacy practices across seven schools.
Ms. Ilk taught numerous years in special education and the regular elementary classroom. She then served on the Jefferson County School District’s
Interventions Resource Team providing support to schools by guiding programming suggestions for students with Learning Disabilities, Autism and Down’s syndrome.
She is currently a literacy coordinator for five elementary schools.
Pati and Melody have used their knowledge and experience to design and develop strong programming
and interventions for students in highly-impacted schools to drastically reduce the number of students experiencing reading failure.
One of their schools received the Colorado Governor’s Award for Distinguished Improvement and Closing the Achievement Gap. One of the participating schools
also received a national Title 1 Distinguished School Award for closing the achievement gap, one of only two awarded in the state by the United States Department of Education.
This school and another from the project were recognized as recipients of the Centers of Excellence Award by the Colorado Department of Education for two consecutive years.
In addition, one of the schools was chosen by the Colorado Department of Education’s Exceptional Student Services Unit to be a visitation site for the national Council for
Exceptional Children Conference hosted in Denver in April of 2012.
Ms. Montgomery and Ms. Elk will be able to impact student learning beyond the state of Colorado with their collaborative efforts with Dr. Louisa Moats.
They recently authored a book with Dr. Louisa Moats titled, The Principal’s Primer for Raising Reading Achievement.
We want to congratulate Pati and Melody for their dedication and unequalled efforts
through the years.
Award Benefits
The recipient is a guest at the annual international conference and
receives a complimentary registration and membership renewal. During
the conference award program, the recipient receives a certificate of
recognition and an honorarium. The recipient will also be profiled in
LD Forum.
Criteria for Nomination
• Be a member of CLD or join as part of the application process
• Provide professional development, consulting services or serve
in a leadership role working with teachers, other professionals, parents,
and students
• Provide exemplary services to the field of learning disabilities
for a minimum of five years
Submission of applications and inquiries:
Kyle Hughes 1011 S. Cove Way Denver, CO 80209 kyle.hughes24@gmail.com
|
