DoDEA

Charles Toth, Theresa Barba with award, Dr. Curtis

PEACHTREE CITY, GA — March 2, 2011 — Ms. Theresa Barba was named recipient of the AdvancED Excellence in Education Award, during the 2011 AdvancED International Summit, held March 19-22, in Chicago.

Barba is the Instructional Systems Specialist for Continuous School Improvement, Accreditation and Program Evaluation for the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) – Domestic Dependent Elementary and Secondary Schools/Department of Defense Dependent Schools-Cuba (DDESS/DoDDS-Cuba.)

"Theresa Barba is an exemplary model of successful leadership in guiding the successful implementation and sustainment of the continuous school improvement process in a school environment," said DoDEA Assistant Associate Director for Education Charlie Toth. "Her experience as a principal and instructional support specialist in embedding continuous improvement in action planning, use of curriculum, and instruction practice is evidenced through successful accreditation visits and increased student achievement across the DDESS schools."  

Barba began her teaching career in Massachusetts. She joined DoDEA in 1972 and in addition to DDESS, has also served in the Pacific and Europe. She began as a classroom teacher and later became a Study of Teaching Trainer in Italy. She continued her work in the area of professional development on the district level in several content areas and in continuous school improvement/accreditation in the Mediterranean and Isles Districts. Her administrative experience began as an assistant principal at Menwith Hill Elementary/High School in England. Barba was the principal of London Central High School until its closure in 2007. At that time, she transitioned to the DDESS Area Service Center in her current role. 

"Ms. Barba is very knowledgeable over a wide range of job responsibilities and has been instrumental in providing exemplary guidance to the administrators and school staff of 64 schools, specifically in the area of continuous school improvement," said Dr. Linda Curtis, Area Superintendent for Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment. "She has earned the respect of the teachers and administrators through her dedication and professionalism. She successfully guided 10 of the Georgia/Alabama District schools into the AdvancED process. All 10 schools were praised for their accomplishments." 

For more information on AdvancED, go to http://www.advanc-ed.org