E Prep & Village Prep Cliffs Campus

April 20th, 2019

To Whom It May Concern:

This is a letter of recommendation for Kristina Whitfield who is currently serving as our 5th Grade
Science teacher. Ms. Whitfield has worked for me the past two years and has been instrumental in
helping to solidify our 5th grade team E Prep. I can assure you that Ms. Whitfield will fulfill all obligations
and duties assigned to her with the utmost professionalism and integrity. I can also attest that she will
go above and beyond to quickly become a tremendous asset for your institution.

I was a public school administrator in Shaker Heights City Schools for over 20 years and have spent the
last five years running two charter schools in our network. I have been in education for 35 years and
Ms. Whitfield is one of the most conscientious teachers I’ve ever known. She really takes her job to
heart and works tremendously hard to make an impact on her students.

Ms. Whitfield has taught for us for four years. Her value-added scores have increased each year and she
truly uses data to inform her instruction. Ms. Whitfield has a difficult job because many of our students
enter 5th grade with very little background of solid science instruction. The k-4 teachers focus heavily on
reading and math due to our students being so far behind.

Ms. Whitfield believes that students should do science and not just learn about it. She works hard to
develop hands-on, lab-like lessons and experiments for her students. We do not have science labs and
we have very few resources but Ms. Whitfield still manages to develop interesting and engaging lessons.
She also believes in authentic learning and assessment and she tries to develop lessons using live data-
bases from websites monitoring live research.

Our school just won a national competition for a state of the art Verizon Innovation Learning Lab. This
will be a cutting edge Technology/Science lab provided by Verizon, Heart of America Foundation, and
Arizona State University. I had planned for Ms. Whitfield to run and manage the lab setting because she
is so committed to using technology, authentic learning, and hands-on experiences in her instruction.
Ms. Whitfield has an outstanding work ethic and is always looking for professional development
opportunities. You could not find a more dedicated and loyal employee. I am truly saddened to see Ms.
Whitfield leave our school and I would hire her again in a heartbeat.

I recommend Ms. Whitfield for any position without hesitation or reservation. If there is anything else I
can do to help you realize how valuable she will become to you, please call me and I will be glad to
discuss her leadership capacity and potential with you.

Sincerely,

Randall A. Yates, Ph.D.

(216) 210-4008 (cell)

P 216.456.2070 1417 East 36th Street Cleveland, Ohio 44114 epvpcliffs.org