Dr. Keri Orange-Jones

Dr. Keri Orange-Jones is a fifth-grade social studies and science teacher in New Jersey.

She has been an educator for 24 years, entering the profession as an Alternate Route Teacher. She received her Master’s in Education Administration and Supervision from St. Peter’s College.  Keri also completed her doctoral degree at Rutgers University in May 2018. The title of her dissertation is Good Teaching is Good Teaching: Teachers’ Understandings of Evaluation & Self-Efficacy, focusing on teachers’ experiences with evaluation and their feelings of efficacy. Keri is a Clinical Faculty member in the Montclair State University Network for Urban Renewal and an Adjunct at CUNY, School of Professional Studies and William Paterson University. Keri is also a Teacher Consultant with the Drew Writing Project, which is part of the National Writing Project. She has offered her insight as a guest speaker on podcasts and participated in several virtual professional learning conferences. 

Keri is an advocate of student choice in assessment. She believes that students should be able to choose the modality of assessment, thus allowing students to highlight their strengths when completing formative and summative assessment tasks. In her blog article for The Educator Collaborative entitled Kenny, The Student Who Taught Me about Giftedness and Assessment, Keri shares her belief that when students are given a choice, they will develop a high sense of efficacy, take ownership of their learning, and experience more success. She also shares these thoughts in her presentation, Student Choice: The Key to Enjoyable Assessments. Keri hopes to continue to focus on offering students various assessment choices as well as investigate alternatives to criteria for acceptance into Gifted & Talented Programs.

Keri has nurtured her passion for history and married it to her love of writing and English Language Arts by finding ways to integrate Social Studies and English Language Arts using socially diverse texts. In addition, she has co-moderated book clubs using the books Stamped and White Fragility, as she furthers her work as an advocate of antiracism. Lastly, Keri was named New Jersey Department of Education Distinguished Cooperating Teacher, June 2019 and New Jersey Department of Education Exemplary Educator, December 2020.

Dr. Orange-Jones believes in addressing the learning needs of the various pupils in her charge. Keri also advocates for equity and accessibility for all students, regardless of socioeconomic status. Additional research interests include teacher education, positive school culture and climate and the importance of representation and diversity in the educational field. She is an avid reader, and you can follow her on Twitter and Instagram @Drkcorange and on Wakelet https://wakelet.com/@DrKOJones.