Spotlighting a Golden Apple Finalist: Take Five with Tiffany Childress Price

Take Five is a series that highlights members of the CPS community who are going above and beyond for our students. All throughout the 2024–25 school year, we will be spotlighting our amazing CPS teachers! If you know a teacher who is making a difference, nominate them to be featured here.

Meet Ms. Tiffany Childress Price, a National Board Certified Teacher and Instructional Lead Coach for STEM courses at South Shore International College Prep (SSICP). SSICP is an International Baccalaureate (IB) school, and Ms. Childress Price teaches 12th-grade Diploma Programme (DP) biology. She is also in the process of earning her doctorate in Math and Science Education in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Illinois Chicago.

Although she has now been an educator for 18 years, teaching was not Ms. Childress Price’s first career. She actually started as a youth worker and community organizer, and this work still informs her teaching in many ways.

“When I was an organizer, I learned that everyone has a story, everyone has gut issues that move them, and democracies only really work when everyone has a role,” said Ms. Childress Price. “So that’s how I approach teaching: every student should feel like they have knowledge to contribute to our classroom ecosystem.”

In honor of her remarkable career, Ms. Childress Price was recently named as a finalist for the prestigious Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Teaching. Learn more about her below!

What was your reaction to being named a Golden Apple finalist?

Total shock! I don’t do this for the recognition, and I know so many amazing teachers. I always say that I would leave the classroom if I were to ever lose my passion and commitment to growing every day. But I’m still here, and I really love this work and care about my students. It feels great!

What is your favorite part of your work?

My students! I have so much fun with them. These four years are critical; high school is the bridge to your adult life, and it’s rewarding to be a part of a student’s trajectory. I love writing letters of recommendation, helping them see their assets, and supporting them to get internships. And then I get to see all that they go on to accomplish after school. I’m also such a nerd! I think you can see my true love of learning reflected in my classroom.

How would you describe your approach to teaching?

Multi-disciplinary. I'm part of a collective of educators who work with an approach called “Youth Participatory Science,” which was actually coined by two former CPS science teachers, Dr. Daniel Morales-Doyle and Alejandra Frausto. With this approach, I teach students science in a way that centers their experiences as Chicagoans and helps them apply science in their daily lives. For example, what does it mean when your younger sister goes to the doctor and she has elevated lead levels in her blood? What does it mean when a metal shredding company is trying to relocate to your side of the city? When you teach that way, every student feels like they can engage in science and bring their own life experience to the table.

How would your students and colleagues describe you?

Our school just matched staff to certain learner profiles, and I was selected as the “most knowledgeable.” As I said earlier, I'm a nerd. I also love to laugh and people say I have a good sense of humor. At the same time, I’m very serious when it comes to student outcomes, and I’m very principled when it comes to making sure every student feels seen and valued.

What are your biggest goals for your students?

I hope my students leave my class with a love of science and a deep curiosity for the world around them. Research shows that most kids come to love science because of hands-on experiences like growing pinto beans and playing in dirt and dissecting worms, and then somehow that evolves into reading a lot of text and feeling disconnected from what they’re learning. I ultimately want to change the landscape of science education. I want my students to see themselves in the content, because that’s when they’re really engaged. I want them to see science in everything.