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Lewiston third-grade teacher Heidi Cornell named Idaho Teacher of the Year; highlights professional learning communities and student leadership
Summary
State Superintendent Debbie Critchfield presented Heidi Cornell of Orchards Elementary in Lewiston as Idaho’s 2025 Teacher of the Year; Cornell told the Senate Education Committee she centers teaching on relationships, student leadership and a professional learning community model.
BOISE — The Senate Education Committee met with Heidi Cornell, a third-grade teacher at Orchards Elementary in Lewiston, who was introduced by State Superintendent Debbie Critchfield as Idaho’s 2025 Teacher of the Year. Critchfield said Cornell was selected from among Idaho’s roughly 19,000 certificated teachers and will represent the state at the national Teacher of the Year activities.
Cornell described a classroom and school approach focused on relationships, student leadership and collaboration among teachers. “My mission is that you feel deeply loved when you are with me,” she told the committee, and said that mission shapes how she engages students across academic and social-emotional goals.
Cornell said her district adopted a professional learning community (PLC) model and that, in her role as a PLC lead, staff used the PLC guiding questions — what students need to learn, how to know they learned it, how to respond when students have or have not learned the material — to set essential learning targets, produce common formative assessments and coordinate interventions and enrichment. She said teams met weekly and that her school allocates about an hour and a half each week for PLC work.
Cornell described classroom projects that tie learning to the community. In a “coins for our cause” unit, third graders research local nonprofit organizations and write persuasive speeches asking for community donations; another end-of-year activity invites parents to speak to students about jobs and trades. She also described a long-term partnership with nearby colleges: “We welcome interns with open arms, giving our students the opportunity to see the importance of education,” she said, referring to Lewis-Clark State College and the University of Idaho.
Asked about resources teachers need, Cornell said beyond financial resources, schools need “time and people” to support meaningful PLC work and professional learning. Committee members congratulated Cornell and asked a small number of follow-up questions.
Critchfield noted that as Teacher of the Year, Cornell will join peers across the country and serve as a public advocate for teachers and students.
