Keishia Thorpe

Keishia Thorpe is an American teacher. She won the Global Teacher Prize in 2021 for redesigning the 12th grade English curriculum to make it more relevant to immigrants and refugees.

Biography
Keishia Thorpe is a Nobel Prize Educator and Licensed Principal Prince George's County Public Schools, who taught English and Advanced Placement courses for 20 years. She has a Bachelor degree in English and a Masters in Education. She is also an education expert in Global Competence and Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Teaching. She designs her curriculum from a global perspective with a social justice lens. She uses culturally responsive practices and civic engagement activities to engage her diverse learners who are primarily English Language Learners, immigrants and refugees and mainly from low income backgrounds. Additionally, Social Emotional Learning practices are embedded in all her teaching and learning practices. Her teaching methods have allowed her ELL students to grow exponentially in their English proficiency levels and help her school to have the highest WIDA exit rate in the school district. She spends hours also helping her students apply for college and earn millions in college scholarships.

Outside the classroom, she is an advocate in her school community; she provides services for students and families in the school district experiencing food insecurity through her Food4Change program; partners with community organizations to provide food and clothes through her Hope Beyond Distance Foundation; participates in public events and community service; and always engages parents and the community. She also created a professional development series, PGCPS Teacher Talk during COVID as a way for teachers to collaborate and share best practices in a time when many were searching for resources and training. As a Community School Educator Liaison, she helped her students with access to wrap-around services through creating partnerships with community stakeholders and nonprofit organizations.

She travels internationally to mentor teachers, share best practices, and act as an education consultant to education ministers globally. She fights for equity on every level for students and has influenced education policies on the state level. She also co-founded the U.S. Elite International, Inc., with her sister Dr. Treisha Thorpe, a nonprofit, helping low income students across the world to access college level education, debt-free. As part of the initiative to prepare students for college by ensuring they receive a quality education, which aligns with the United Nation Sustainable Development Goals, Keishia and Dr. Thorpe established the Global Education Teacher Summit. The GET Summit is designed for professional development, skilling, reskilling, and upskilling participants to address the knowledge and learning gaps caused by the pandemic. The goals are to equip participants with essential skills, innovative practices, and evidence-based strategies to navigate and solve problems relative to the modern student and 21st century classroom. It is also designed to give education stakeholders a bird's eye view of the pandemic challenges, best practices, and lessons learned across the landscape of education and targeted areas for improvement for 2030. The Summit also features a Minister and Stakeholder mini-conference which give teachers a seat at the table and put them in solution oriented conversations with those who make policies and decisions everyday to influence educational outcomes for students. Another highlight of the Summit is the Global Education Citizen Award which recognizes a government official

Her global work include: Partnership with Brigade 12 in Mexico to help students advance in their education pursuits; Collaboration with the National Education Trust - Adoption of Excelsior High School and Excelsior Primary School to provide financial support to implement education technology to improve the teaching and learning process and restore athletic infrastructure for combined use; Making Champions Project in partnership with Pacers Running and Relay Goods to provide student-athletes in both high school and college with running spikes and shoes in order to help maximize their gifts and talents to earn scholarships to college. To date, over 500 shoes and spikes distributed to PGCPS athletes and over 200 internationally; Legacy Scholarships in honor of pioneers in sports John Messam, Hubert Lawrence, and Olympian, Vilma Charlton, awarded to high schools in Jamaica to enrich their sports programs; and Keishia Thorpe Day Legacy Scholarship awarded to college bound senior students who demonstrate high financial needs.

She has received many global accolades for her work with students inside and outside of the classroom and has been featured in numerous local and international print and television media including BBC, CNN, Fox News, NBC, CBS, TVJ, Vogue, Essence, Forbes Women, TEACH Middle East Magazine, Mission Magazine, Africa, and many others. Some of her most notable achievements are Joe R. Biden Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award, a Resolution from the Maryland State Senate, the Medal of Excellence from Governor Larry Hogan, Unsung Hero Community Award from the Mayor, International Activism Award from Mexico, Letter of Appreciation from the Minister of Higher Secondary Special Education of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Certificate of Recognition from the Ministry of Education and Youth, Jamaica, Certificate of Appreciation, Tashkent University of Economic, Uzbekistan, University of Maryland Presidential Flagship Award, the LifeChanger of the Year 2018-19, U.S., and the 2021 Global Teacher Prize Winner, which is the Nobel Prize for teachers, awarded by the Varkey Foundation and UNESCO (for teachers who go above and beyond). She is the first black woman to win this award that came with USD 1 million dollars. Her most recent recognitions are being inducted into the U.S. National Teacher Hall of Fame, hall of fame recognition from the National Education Association (NEA) and a Proclamation from Cashena Cross, Mayor of the City of Bladensburg.

She currently serves as the only woman and educator on the Nobel Fest Advisory Board. She is a certified Human Rights Consultant through the U.S. Diplomacy of Human Rights, a Level II USA Track and Field Certified Coach, a Level II Certified Inter-secondary coach and possess two certificates in DEIA and Leadership. It is no wonder the Prince George's County Executive, Angela Alsobrooks proclaimed December 14th as Keishia Thorpe Day.

Currently, Keishia is working on hosting the Global Education Teacher Summit in Kazakhstan in partnership with Nobel Fest and plans for Sub Saharan Africa, as a goal towards meeting SDG4 and Transforming Education 2030. Se also continues her nonprofit’s Annual Scholarship and Athletic Convention and College Fair held in the Caribbean to help at-risk youth acquire scholarship opportunities to higher education in the U.S.

Keishia Thorpe and her twin sister Dr. Treisha Thorpe were raised by their grandmother, Jestina Daley. During their early years, they had to overcome many challenges including poverty. Today, Keishia is a successful educator and her sister an award winning College Professor who has a PHD in Advanced Accounting.

Other national and international recognition for Keishia's work in education include: African Diaspora Advisory Board, Excellence in Teaching Award, International Women’s Day, Making a Difference Service Award, World Teachers Day Award, Special Recognition Award, Proclamation from County Council Deni Taveras, Board of Education Certificate of Recognition, PGCPS Teacher Award Recognition, PGCEA Excellence in Education Award, Woman of Integrity Award, IHSLP Collaborative Teacher of the Year, Lead by Example Award, DMV Key Influencer, DCPS Teacher of the Year Runner-Up, DTEC TEA Short: Change Agent Award, WTU Union Leader, Membership, and Steward Awards, DTEC TEA II Strong Arm Leadership Award.