About

Jessica Lander is a teacher, author, and advocate. 

She teaches history and civics to recent immigrant students in an urban Massachusetts public high school and has won several teaching awards, including being named a Top 50 Finalist for the Global Teacher Prize in 2021, a 2023 MA Teacher of the Year Finalist, and the 2023 Massachusetts History Teacher of the Year. Previously she has taught students in middle school, high school, and university in the U.S., Thailand, and Cambodia.

She is author of Making Americans, a comprehensive look at immigrant education as told through key historical moments and court decisions, current experiments to improve immigrant education, and profiles of immigrant youth and schools across the country. (Beacon Press, Fall 2022.)

She is a coauthor of Powerful Partnerships: A Teacher’s Guide to Engaging Families for Student Success (Scholastic, 2017) and author of Driving Backwards (TidePool Press, 2014). 

Jessica writes frequently about education policy and teaching. Her work has been published in print and online including in: The Boston Globe, Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Ed Magazine and Usable Knowledge blog, Education Week, Educational Leadership Magazine, The Boston Globe Magazine, The Washington Post’s Answer Sheet Blog, The National Council for the Social Studies, The 74, and Huffington Post.

In addition to her teaching, Jessica has served as a district-wide family engagement coach, a mentor teacher, and as an education consultant for national and state education policy organizations.  She has worked with schools, districts and the Massachusetts’s Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) to lead professional development trainings, served on DESE’s Teacher Advisory Cabinet advising the department on education policy, and currently serves on DESE’s Parent and Community Education and Involvement Advisory Committee. Jessica co-authored DESE’s “Civics Project Guidebook”, a document to support state teachers in implementing action civics following the recent passage of an innovative civics education law in the state and and new statewide social studies standards, and she has advised and consulted on the curricula for the national civics nonprofit Generation Citizen. 

In 2019, Jessica and fourteen of her former students launched the national We Are America Project, working with teachers across the country to support more than 1500 students sharing their stories of American Identity. 

Jessica is a Re-Imagining Migration Fellow, and was a 2019-2020 Emerson Collective Fellow.

• 2023, Massachusetts History Teacher of the Year, Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.

• 2022, Massachusetts Teacher of the Year, Finalist for 2023, MA Department of Education. Finalists for the state-wide award recognizing excellence in teaching.

• 2022, Massachusetts Farm to School Kale Blazer, Massachusetts Farm to School. Presented to individuals who have demonstrated excellence and leadership in farm to school activity in Massachusetts. The educator award honors a teacher who is a leader in bringing experiential food education or garden based learning to their students.

• 2021, Top 50 Finalist, Global Teacher Prize, Varkey Foundation. “The Global Teacher Prize serves to underline the importance of educators and the fact that, throughout the world, their efforts deserve to be recognised and celebrated. It seeks to acknowledge the impacts of the very best teachers – not only on their students but on the communities around them.” (Varkey Foundation). In 2021, the Top 50 Finalists were chosen from more than 8000 nominations from 121 countries around the world.

• 2021, Finalist, State History Teacher of the Year for 2023, MA Department of Education.

• 2021, Don Salvucci Award for Excellence in Promoting Civic Education, Massachusetts Council for the Social Studies. Presented annually to an educator in the area of citizenship education who emphasizes and teaches the importance of democratic ideals and responsibilities.

• 2018, Kathleen Roberts Creative Leadership Award, Massachusetts Teacher Association. Civil and Human Rights Award presented annually to one educator for creative leadership.

• 2018, Massachusetts Teacher of the Year, Semi-Finalist for 2019, MA Department of Education. One of four semi-finalists for the state-wide award recognizing excellence in teaching.

• 2017, Massachusetts Teacher Change-Maker of the Year, Generation Citizen. Presented annually to a Generation Citizen Teacher for their work in supporting students to create community change.

• 2016, AIETA Promising Teacher Award, Massachusetts Council for the Social Studies. Presented annually to a social studies teacher, new to the profession, who has made an impact on his/her students, colleagues and/or the community during their first five years of teaching. 

• 2015 Intellectual Contribution/Faculty Tribute Award, Harvard Graduate School of Education. Awarded to one student in each program whose dedication to scholarship enhanced the academic life of the community and positively impacted their fellow students. Selected by both students and faculty.

• 2022 - 2023, Civics Fellow, MA Department of Elementary & Secondary Education

• 2018 - 2022, Fellow, Reimagining Migration 

• 2019 - 2020, Fellow, Emerson Collective

• 2018 - 2019, Senior Fellow, Teach Plus Massachusetts

• 2017 - 2018, Fellow, Teach Plus Massachusetts

• Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Member, Parent and Community Education and Involvement Advisory Committee,  2018 - 2021. 

• Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Steering Committee Member, Teacher Advisory Cabinet Member,  2017-2018. 

• Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Member, Teacher Advisory Cabinet Member, 2016-2018.

• Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and Generation Citizen, Design Team Member and Consultant.  Collaborated  and co-authored “The Civics Project Guidebook” for the MA Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, supporting the implementation of the newly passed Act to Promote and Enhance Civic Engagement.

• Old Rochester School District, District-wide Family Engagement Coach Advising district and leading professional development to district staff on family engagement best practices. 

• Teacher Mentor for student teachers at Lesley University and Fitchburg State University.

• National Generation Citizen, Education Consultant advising on national Generation Citizen Curriculum, including differentiation and modifications to support different learners; teacher professional development; and Teacher Leadership Board design.

• Massachusetts Civics Education Institute Presenter and Facilitator. Collaborated to help launch the inaugural Civics Institute to train 250 MA teachers and district leaders in action-based approaches to civic education and the new state-wide civics and social study standards.

I am often asked to speak on panels and in other forums.  A sample of events I have spoken at, include: 

• Keynote Speaker for the 2023 SIOP® Conference

• Keynote Speaker for Middlesex Community College faculty and staff.

• Panel Moderator at the Annual Learn Launch Across Boundaries Conference that draws more than 1,500 participants coming from more than 30 countries from the fields of education, investment, business and technology. 

• Spotlighted by the nationally recognized Education Leadership Magazine in its Podcast series.  

• Speaker at conference held at the National Gallery in Washington D.C., speaking about refugee education. 

• Speaker at conference Utah civic education conference, speaking about civic education in the classroom and policy. 

• Keynote speaker at annual immigrant education conference organized by the Council of Great City Schools. 

• Keynote speaker for internationally recognized nonprofit Facing History and Ourselves Massachusetts Annual Gala. 

• TedxBeacon Talk: Rising To High Expectations