Annapolis teacher wins $25,000 Milken award

Allison Felton surprised by honor for work with algebra students with attendance, behavior and grades problems

Annapolis High School Algebra teacher Allison Felton, center, is presented with the $25,000 Milken Educator Award by Gov. Larry Hogan, left, and former financier and philanthropist Michael Milken. (Joshua McKerrow, staff/Capital Gazette )

Maryland House Speaker Michael E. Busch, left, and County Executive Steve Schuh hold the Milken Foundation’s symbolic check for Felton. ( )

An Annapolis High School mathematics teacher who works with behaviorally challenged students was surprised Wednesday morning with the Milken Educator Award, a national honor that comes with a $25,000 prize.

The award was a surprise to Allison Felton, who didn’t even know it existed. She was recommended for the award through the Maryland State Department of Education. Felton is one of 44 teachers from across the country who will win the award this school year.

Felton works with ninth-graders in algebra who struggle with attendance, behavior and grades. She also teaches three sections of advanced placement calculus.

“I tell my students that I’ve got their backs, 24-7, I tell them that we’re going to struggle through this together,” she said. “I try to run my classes as honestly as possible, too, so the kids know I’m not going to sugar-coat anything, and I think they respect that, and they trust me, so they work really hard for me.”

Students and staff were told when they gathered that the school had received the “Wellness School of Distinction” award. Once the true nature of the assembly was revealed, Gov. Larry Hogan announced Felton as the winner.

The goal of the award is to bring attention to the need for “able, caring and creative” people to join the profession in a time where fewer young people are becoming educators, and others are leaving the classroom, according to the award’s website. It's awarded to a teacher in their early to middle career, for achievement but also for what they might do in the future, officials said.

Felton’s approach has been proven to work — in a statement announcing the award Milken foundation officials said Felton’s students showed a 20 percent growth from 2015 and 2016 in their PARCC tests for Algebra 1. She has also helped to improve the school’s average AP calculus scores, and expand the AP program.

She has taught at Annapolis High School for six years, and said her first year at the school came with struggles — hgh school teaching was not what she thought it would be. She was frustrated because she wasn’t getting through to students at first, but decided to give it another try.

The support system at the school, including Principal Sue Chittim, is what kept her going, she said.

Her $25,000 prize is unrestricted — she can use it however she wants.

“The money for me is life-changing, it’s going to help me out in so many ways,” she said.

She plans to give back a little to the school, and save the rest to buy a house.

“I moved here from Pittsburgh, I’ve been here six years, I’m ready to settle down,” she said.

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