“I go to sleep each night brainstorming ways to become a better teacher,” says Lulla Abraham, “and I wake up every morning thinking about ways to empower my students.” For 15 years, the past four of which have been spent at Tubman, she has pushed herself and her students to achieve. Part of her approach is convincing each child that success is attainable with hard work and dedication, and holding them to appropriately high expectations. Her former principal, Harry Hughes, witnessed her students’ ability to clearly articulate how to apply math concepts to the real world as they engaged in projects and performance assessments. ƒ”Most importantly,” he adds, “Ms. Abraham’s students love math and they are excited to participate.” Leveraging her abilities, Ms. Abraham has served as an instructional coach, lead teacher, resource teacher, and a member of this year’s Leading Educators cohort.

Ms. Abraham follows in the footsteps of a long line of teachers in her family, and is inspired by her students’ tenacity-despite many language and economic challenges they come to school every day eager to learn. “There is nothing more important to me, as an educator, than to make a difference in the lives of my students,” she says. The Achievement Network has recognized Ms. Abraham for Outstanding Data-Driven Instruction in Mathematics, and she received NASA’s Sunbeam Math and Science Award. Mr. Hughes declares, “Ms. Abraham is an exceptional teacher whose impact on her students cannot be captured on paper. Rather, it is evident on the faces of the students whom she has imparted a love of math and a desire to be successful.”