Position: Mathematics Teacher
School: Pontiac Middle School
School District: Pontiac School District
City, State: Pontiac, MI
Rev. Jerry Rankin was nominated by a colleague, James Beasley.
Rev. Rankin revolutionized urban students' ability to excel in math studies by enabling them to develop background knowledge from their experiences with basic arithmetic operations. His original goal was to enable urban students to offset the consequences of high absense rates with rote learning. As students realized their potential for comprehending algebraic procedures with background knowledge of basic operations, they were able to anticipate learning in at a much faster pace and apply their additional time to mathemmatical problem solving to validate their proficiency. This support enabled urban students to assist in closing the international achievement gap with math scores.