WASHINGTON — Amy Ramponi, a psychology teacher at Kimberly High School in Kimberly, Wisconsin, has been named a winner of the 2016 APA TOPSS Charles T. Blair-Broeker Excellence in Teaching Award by the American Psychological Association’s Committee of Teachers of Psychology in Secondary Schools.
Providing a multitude of teaching resources to fellow teachers is what sets Ramponi apart, according to R. Scott Reed, chair of APA’s Committee of Teachers of Psychology in Secondary Schools (TOPSS). Ramponi currently organizes #psychat on Twitter, which provides psychology teachers a platform to share ideas.
Ramponi’s passion for her students extends beyond their high school academic careers. Jordyn Gaurkee, a former student, was unsure of which major to choose in college. Ramponi recommended she consider psychology and contacted a psychology professor at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay to have her sit in on a class. “If it wasn’t for Mrs. Ramponi going out of her way and helping me figure out my future, I would have never even considered psychology in college,” Gaurkee said.
According to Ramponi’s students, she goes above and beyond just teaching within the classroom. Ramponi took several Sunday afternoons before the 2015 AP psychology exam to meet with her students and provide them help. She also organized a Fox Cities-wide review day at Fox Valley Technical College on Sundays in which nine teachers presented AP psychology concepts to area students.
“Amy is so enthusiastic and positive about psychology,” said Reed. “She is such a fan of what is offered in the field.”
Ramponi will receive a framed certificate, an engraved award, $500 and a complimentary TOPSS membership renewal for 2017. Additionally, Worth Publishers is providing her with a $500 credit to Bedford Freeman & Worth Publishers and a copy of the "High School Psychology Video DVD."
The award is named for retired psychology teacher Charles T. Blair-Broeker, who taught for 39 years at Cedar Falls High School in Cedar Falls, Iowa.
Through APA’s Education Directorate, TOPSS offers teaching materials, professional development, the Psychology Teacher Network quarterly newsletter and programs for high school psychology teachers and students. There are approximately 2,000 APA high school teacher affiliates in APA. Psychology continues to be one of the most popular high school Advanced Placement (AP) courses, with nearly 277,000 students taking the AP exam in 2015. International Baccalaureate (IB) psychology courses are also popular, with over 17,000 students worldwide taking the IB psychology exam or writing their IB extended essay in psychology in 2015. Introductory psychology courses (non-AP/IB) are also taught in high schools.
TOPSS’s mission is to promote the highest standards in the teaching of psychology as a science and discipline; promote professional development and other means for lifelong learning for high school teachers of psychology; facilitate networking among teachers from all teaching levels of psychology; encourage recruitment and retention of students in the field of psychology; enhance the visibility and legitimacy of high school psychology; and recommend the appropriate advocacy, education policy and certification issues that impact the quality or visibility of teaching of high school psychology. Learn more about TOPSS online and on its Facebookopens in new window page.
The American Psychological Association, in Washington, D.C., is the largest scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States. APA's membership includes more than 117,500 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. Through its divisions in 54 subfields of psychology and affiliations with 60 state, territorial and Canadian provincial associations, APA works to advance the creation, communication and application of psychological knowledge to benefit society and improve people's lives.