Richard Woods, Georgia’s School Superintendent

“Educating Georgia’s Future”

Re: Recommendation for Ms. Samone Robinson

To Whom It May Concern:

It is my privilege to provide a letter of recommendation for Ms. Samone Robinson. During my time as principal of
Maynard H. Jackson High School in Atlanta Public Schools, Ms. Samone Robinson served as a teacher, science
department head, and teacher mentor. She was highly competent in content and instructional practices with a passion
for working collaboratively with teachers across the curriculum. Additionally, she had a gift for building positive
relationships with students, parents, and the community. Her work ethic yielded positive results for students each year,
and she was a great contributor to building teacher effectiveness among her colleagues.

Recently, I was asked to provide a speech in Washington, DC at the legislative conference regarding the impact of
teacher leader effectiveness in diverse school populations. After my speech, a chief of state asked me to name the top
five most influential educators that impacted the transformation of Maynard Jackson in Atlanta. Without hesitation, I
immediately stated Samone Robinson. I attribute much of Maynard Jackson’s transformation to Samone Robinson
because she gave more than 100% effort in everything she did. She was a highly competent visionary with skills and
passion for teaching and learning. While some stakeholders in 2012 questioned the vision of Jackson becoming an IB
School, Ms. Robinson was one of the first staff members to become IB Certified and have students pass the IB exam in
her content. When a gap was identified with Students with Disabilities in science, Ms. Robinson created data driven
reteaching practices for science that aligned to the standards and incorporated student accommodations. Not only did
she lead common planning, she worked with members of her department and others to build lessons that included
acceleration of content, on grade level content delivery, and the reteaching strategies necessary to address the needs
of all learners. She donated her department head planning period to teach side by side with her colleagues on
collaborative planning teams to ensure instructional delivery to students was implemented with fidelity during
instructional time. She worked with her team to build robust and very comprehensive data presentations from
formative assessments that informed instructional practice and professional development. She created formative
assessments and trained staff on using them effectively.

For the duration of Ms. Robinson’s time at Maynard Jackson High School, science scores increased across all subgroups.
One data aspect I will always remember from her particular students was how closely matched grades were to their
Georgia Milestone scores. Students would trend at a 90 in her class all year and earn a 90 on the Milestones. Her
instructional capacity was highly distinguished. Additionally, the school went from no science fair participation to robust
science fair participation with county, region, and state winners after she became department head.

Not only was Ms. Robinson a competent instructional leader, she worked to build school culture and develop student
strengths and talents with athletics, band, and clubs. In addition to hosting tutorials after school, she started cross

2066 Twin Towers East • 205 Jesse Hill Jr. Drive • Atlanta, Georgia 30334 • www.gadoe.org
An Equal Opportunity Employer
 Richard Woods, Georgia’s School Superintendent
“Educating Georgia’s Future”

country at Jackson and served as a track coach and marching band dance coach. What became abundantly clear was Ms.
Samone Robinson was passionate about not only helping students achieve academically, she wanted to help them to
excel in life as well. This was borne out of a genuine love and concern about the students as individuals.

Simply put, Ms. Samone Robinson’s passion and commitment to making a difference in the lives of students and drive
for excellence is contagious. Her knowledge, skills, and experiences make her one of the most unique instructional
leaders I have seen in education during my 25 years serving as an educator with the past 15 serving as a leader. I know
of no other educator who has engaged and produced results in diverse student populations like Ms. Robinson and
certainly not one that has shown this level of initiative. I could not be more excited about the opportunity to provide
this reference for a proven teacher leader. Her understanding of the needs of students and her commitment to excellent
instruction are second to none.

Please call or contact me if I can provide any additional information or comments addressing my recommendation for
Ms. Samone Robinson.

Respectfully,

Stephanie S. Johnson, Ed.D.

(former Principal, Maynard H. Jackson)

Deputy Superintendent
Department of School Improvement
Division of School and District Effectiveness
stjohnson@doe.k12.ga.us
(678) 326-2778

2066 Twin Towers East • 205 Jesse Hill Jr. Drive • Atlanta, Georgia 30334 • www.gadoe.org
An Equal Opportunity Employer