WASHINGTON — Virginia Welle, MS, a psychology teacher at Chippewa Falls Senior High School in Chippewa Falls, 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.
“Virginia is one of the great creators in our profession,” said R. Scott Reed, chair of APA’s Committee of Teachers of Psychology in Secondary Schools (TOPSS). “Virginia’s colleagues repeatedly thank her for sharing original ideas and resources.”
One of Welle’s greatest achievements was to spearhead the growth of the Advanced Placement (AP) psychology program at Chippewa Falls Senior High School to more than 150 students since its establishment in 2004. In 2014-15, 85 students enrolled in AP psychology and 74 took the exam, earning an average score of 4.23 (out of 5).
Welle has served as the AP committee lead in the Chippewa Falls School District and has planned and directed the school’s first AP Boot Camp to help prepare students for the course and exam. Welle’s dedication to teaching has earned her several awards, including the Most Influential Educator from the Chippewa Falls Area Chamber of Commerce five times.
Student feedback on Welle’s teaching is positive, with many saying more teachers should teach the way she does, according to Rebecca Davis, principal of Chippewa Falls Senior High School.
Welle 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 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.