Carter Elementary School

8455 Strawberry Plains Pike

Knoxville, TN 37924
Telephone (865)933-4172
Fax (865)933-8147

Jessica Birdsong, Principal “Setting A Higher Standard” Anne Riley, Assistant Principal
jessica.birdsong@knoxschools.org anne.riley@knoxschools.org

March 5, 2018

To Whom It May Concern:

It is with pleasure that I write this letter of recommendation for Faith Partlow. She served as a third grade teacher for the
past three years at Pleasant Ridge Elementary School. I had the pleasure of serving as her principal for two and a half
years. During her tenure at Pleasant Ridge, Ms. Partlow demonstrated strong communication skills and high quality
instructional practices. In her time with our staff, she built strong relationships with her grade level teammates,
instructional support staff, and administration. Ms. Partlow is a strong asset to the instructional team and will be an asset
to any school lucky enough to secure her services.

Ms. Partlow actively participated in our weekly Professional Learning Community meetings by volunteering her thoughts
and ideas, examining student data and making instructional decisions with her teammates. In just her second year with
our school, Ms. Partlow took the initiative to pilot new instructional practices in reading for our school. This required
significant additional time consulting with our literacy coach and literacy experts throughout our district to design small
group instruction that targeted very specific phonological and decoding needs of her students. She allowed many teachers
to visit her classroom to gather information and provide critiques of her practice. She demonstrated confidence, maturity,
and a strong desire to continuously improve throughout this challenging process.

Because of the qualities exhibited above, I asked Ms. Partlow to co-chair the Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment
team for the 2016-17 school. Along with the other co-chair, Ms. Partlow set agendas, developed short and long term
goals and led staff in making large-scale improvements to our instructional program. Through her leadership efforts and
the hard work of her colleagues, Pleasant Ridge was designated as a Reward School from the state department of
education for their tremendous student academic growth during the 2016-17 school year.

Ms. Partlow is a reflective educator who listens to feedback from colleagues and administration. She often seeks out her
teammates and other colleagues, our instructional coach, and other school resources to provide support for her instruction.
She plans well thought-out lessons that regularly include opportunities for students to critically think about their learning
objective.

As her principal, it is with pleasure that I am able to share this information with you. Please feel free to contact me should
you have any questions at (865)933-4172

Sincerely,

Jessica Birdsong
Principal
Carter Elementary School