Michael Hinojosa, Ed.D.

Superintendent of Schools

Educating All Students For Success

March 9, 2017

To Whom It May Concern:

I have had the pleasure of working with Aline Matias the last two years at Edward Titche Elementary in Dallas
Independent School District. When Ms. Matias entered the doors of the school, as a returning teacher on a turnaround
campus, I was not sure what to expect. Fortunately, I have had the opportunity to engage with a driven, thoughtful, and
gifted educator. Throughout the last two years, Ive watched her grow as a respected leader among her colleagues and a
gracious team player.

Ms. Matias serves as an Instructional Team lead for the First Grade cohort of 6 teachers and serves as a member of the
campus wide Instructional Rounds Team at Edward Titche. As a team lead, I have witnessed her lead crucial conversations
amongst her team and advocate proactively for team initiatives to increase student learning across contents. Aline is an
individual who can thrive in the face of adversity and challenge. As a First Grade teacher she is data driven and has
worked tremendously to ensure that her students have met or exceed the district/ campus passing percentage goals. At the
campus level, she takes on very difficult tasks as she is in an endlessly pursuit to provide differentiated support for all
students, even those outside of her caseload. For example, over 80% of our 3-5 students are preforming two or more grade
levels below in reading and Ms. Matias has supported us in 4 th & 5th grade during our STAAR Boot camp by providing
targeted small group intervention to improve reading instruction and ensure that those gaps arent widening. Her academic
successes have distinguished her and has led to her recommendation to loop up with her scholars three years in a row from
prek to kindergarten and now in first.

Ms. Matias works collaboratively with her team and impacts learning beyond her classroom, she seeks feedback and ideas
on how to best implement the practices around coherent instructional blocks. She practically and tactfully leverages her
background to engage our families in robust dialogue to support her students success. Ms. Matias has developed parent
buy in and demonstrates a relentless commitment to the students and their families. She works tirelessly to build her
students literacy skills and has collaborated with outside partners to develop the literary access of Spanish content for her
bilingual students and their families.

Ms. Matias has led staff by involving them in the process of understanding and utilizing data in order to provide rigorous
instruction. Her ability to explain complex concepts, listen to others, respond to feedback, and involve all stakeholders is
what has made her a successful leader. She has the trust, respect, and buy in of our staff, including administrators. Aline
Matias is dedicated to the field of education, demonstrates a growth mindset and will continue to set high expectations for
herself and those around her. Her passion and dedication to change the face of education for students in urban education is
admirable and contagious. With her wide range of leadership skills, history of success, and devotion to education, Ms.
Matias will make a wonderful addition to your team by bringing a level of excellent work ethic and success. If you need
any further information, you can reach me via phone at 248-434-7660 (c) or email at mkurbally@dallasisd.org.

Sincerely,

Mariama Kurbally, M.Ed.

Assistant Principal
214-794-2116 (o)
mkurbally@dallasisd.org
Edward Titche Elementary School
9560 Highfield Dr.
Dallas, Texas 75227
Michael Hinojosa, Ed.D.
Superintendent of Schools

Educating All Students For Success

Kristy Pedraza

Edward Titche Elementary School

Campus Instructional Coach

Work (972) 794-2113 / Cell (214) 632-4818

March 5, 2017

Dear Educator,

I am honored to write a letter of recommendation in support of Aline Matias as a candidate for a teaching
position. I have had the privilege of working with Ms. Matias in my position as a campus instructional coach at
Edward Titche Elementary School for the past two school years.

Ms. Matias is a great collaborator. To serve her students unique needs especially in a community like ours that
historically under-performs she continuously reaches out to teachers and instructional coaches to create
differentiated instruction for each child. It is not uncommon for her to spend hours of planning to deliver just
one lesson and it shows. Students in Ms. Matias class continually outperform other grade-level peers on the
campus and in the district; in fact, her ACP scores outperformed the average scores of our schools respective
feeder pattern. Her ability to connect with her students and her talent at teaching simple concepts, as well as
more advanced topics, are both truly superior. She understands how to analyze data and monitors & adjusts her
instruction accordingly. She is the only teacher in our lower elementary grades that has taught her 6-year-old
students to use All In Learning clickers to receive instant feedback on their learning.

Ms. Matias has a wonderful rapport with people of all ages, especially children. Her students are highly
motivated, and she encourages them to take ownership of their learning, so they meet the high expectations she
has set for them. She has excellent written and verbal communication skills, is extremely organized, reliable,
and computer literate. Ms. Matias can work independently and is able to follow through to ensure that the job
gets done. She accomplishes these tasks with great initiative and with a very positive attitude. I recommend Ms.
Matias to you without reservation. If you have any further questions about her background or qualifications,
please do not hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,

Kristy Pedraza

Campus Instructional Coach

Edward Titche Elementary School

Work (972) 794-2113 / Cell (214) 632-4818