Jan Yardley

Jan Yardley
Posted on 10/30/2015
Jan Yardley

Originally from the Utica, New York area, Jan Yardley began her teaching career at Hall Memorial School in Willington, Connecticut, before moving to Massachusetts where she taught at Bellamy Middle School in Chicopee.  Ms. Yardley came to Ware Public Schools as a 7th & 8th grade Reading teacher, and then as the 8th grade English teacher.  For the past twelve years Ms. Yardley has worked as the Accountability, Title I and Grants Coordinator for the district. 

Ms. Yardley has served on many committees throughout her years here in Ware and has often been a quiet driving force behind the scenes as she secures grant funding and puts initiatives together to benefit the teachers and students of Ware Public Schools. Ms. Yardley writes and manages over a dozen grants for the district that allow the district to purchase educational supplies, tutoring programs, in-district assessment materials such as the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP), the Benchmark Assessment System (BAS) and DIBELS Assessments, professional development consultants such as John Collins from the Collins Writing Program, out of district conferences for teachers and administrators, as well as the salaries for four professional staff, eight paraprofessionals, two data/clerical personnel, six Title I Parent Nights and Community Reading Day at SMK and WMS.

Ms. Yardley wrote and was awarded the competitive Mass Grad Promising Practices Grant and has put together and run the Summer High School Academy program which also includes the grant-funded year-round High School Credit Recovery Program.  Most recently, she wrote and was awarded a competitive grant to the Federal Department of Justice that will bring a School Resource Officer to Ware Public Schools for the next three years.

Jan Yardley received her Bachelor’s degree in English Education from Cortland State University and her Master’s of Education degree as a Reading Specialist from Eastern Connecticut State University.  She has also completed a Principal Licensure course through The Collaborative for Educational Services and Fitchburg State University and has attended the National Institute for School Leadership (NISL).

Ms. Yardley reports that she loves working in Ware, “both the town and the school community have so much heart, caring and generosity that it is a wonderful place to work and I want to do all that I can to be part of that and to help students have successful lives.”