Ripley County Teacher Surprised with $25,000 Milken
Educator Award
South Ripley Junior High School Teacher Recognized for Innovative Approach to Maximizing Student Potential During Middle School
VERSAILLES, IN. – The Indiana Department of Education and the Milken Family Foundation today surprised Katie Lanter, a seventh and eighth grade reading and English/language arts teacher at South Ripley Junior High School, with the prestigious Milken Educator Award – which comes with a prize of $25,000 from the foundation.
“An exceptional educator and teacher leader, Katie Lanter consistently discovers new opportunities to help her students and fellow educators reach their full potential at South Ripley Junior High,” said Dr. Katie Jenner, Indiana Secretary of Education. “Mrs. Lanter is laser-focused on using sound data and her own creativity to ensure her students are receiving high-quality instruction that will set them up for success in high school and beyond.”
The Milken Educator Awards celebrate, elevate and activate the American teaching profession and inspire young, capable people to join it. The Milken Educator Award is not a lifetime achievement honor. Recipients are heralded in early to mid-career for what they have achieved — and for the promise of what they will accomplish given the resources and opportunities earned from the award.
“Katie Lanter is a leader in preparing students for the rigor and excitement of high school,” said Dr. Jane Foley, Milken Educator Awards Senior Vice President. “From guiding students’ educational journeys to contributing to the excellence of South Ripley Junior High School at large, Katie’s impact has had a ripple effect on all the lives she has touched. Thank you, Katie, for inspiring the love of learning in others and for choosing teaching as a career.”
Through the use of data, Lanter ensures each of her students reach their potential during their middle school years. Lanter facilitates data analysis discussions among her fellow educators, maximizing their instructional strategies. By making use of interim assessment and state testing data, she maps student and teacher progress on a “data wall” throughout the year.
Passionate about setting her students up for success, Lanter also designs and offers an eighth-grade creative writing class for high school credit, which allows students to get acclimated to the rigor of high school.
As the junior high’s school improvement team chair, Lanter played a key role in the school’s Cognia accreditation process, STEM certification designation and Project Lead the Way Distinguished Program recognition. Lanter also serves as a grade-level professional learning community member, mentor teacher and transition team member. As a member of the transition team, Lanter assisted in creating an instructional framework between the South Ripley Junior High School and South Ripley High School buildings and promotes effective strategies which help students successfully transition from middle into high school. She presented project outcomes and data from this initiative at the Indiana Principals Leadership Institute state seminar.
Lanter gives back to her community through after school tutoring as part of the Raider Accountability Program, arranges fundraisers and assembles gift boxes for deployed service members and sponsors the junior high’s Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) program, where she organizes her school’s Red Ribbon Week and advocates for drug and vaping safety and awareness.
Lanter earned a Bachelor of Science degree in secondary English education with a minor in classical culture from Ball State University in 2012.