Mrs. Drake graduated from Saint Leo College, now Saint Leo University, in Florida.   She received a full tuition Trustees Academic Scholarship from the college.   Kristen also earned the Florida Academic Scholarship and the “Chappie” James Most Promising Teacher Scholarship from the Florida Department of Education.   While at St. Leo, she was recognized with the John I. Leonard General Excellence Award for Character, Scholarship, Service, and Leadership and the Rebecca L. Buller Award for Leadership, Service, Commitment, and Integrity.   She presented a thesis on multiple intelligences at the Florida Council on Elementary Education in April 1997.  

Professional development includes Orton-Gillingham training, which emphasizes a multi-sensory approach to teaching reading, spelling, and written expression. Talents Unlimited, a program designed to foster creative thinking, was also a part of her professional development.   She worked with Arts Connect to integrate fine arts into classroom teaching.   Kristen also has over sixty hours of training to teach English for Speakers of Other Languages, or ESOL.   In 2003 she developed and presented an electronic portfolio illustrating the application of technology in the classroom.   During the summer of 2003, Mrs. Drake attended Leadership: An Evolving Vision at Harvard University’s Principals’ Center.   She also served as a consultant for the Georgia Department of Education's Georgia Learning Connections where she wrote lesson plans and identified web resources for the state’s Quality Core Curriculum, or QCC. During the 2004-2005 school year, Mrs. Drake participated in Effective Instruction for Elementary Struggling Readers: Research-Based Practices, a course designed to meet the needs of low-performing students and those with special needs. She received Level 1 training for the International Baccalaureate Programme and is a gifted-certified teacher.  Her most recent professional development was on autism.

In January 2006, Kristen was recognized by the Dogwood Chapter of the Council for Exceptional Children with the Charlie Lovern Human Spirit Award. She was nominated by her respected team teacher, Nancy Lorenz.

On October 9, 2006, Kristen Drake was recognized at her school with the national Milken Educator Award for Excellence. On January 11, 2007, Kristen received further recognition by the Georgia Department of Education. Mrs. Drake was also recognized in April 2007 at the Milken Educator Conference in Los Angeles, California, with the formal awards ceremony at the Beverly Hilton. To learn more about the Milken Family Foundation, please visit www.mff.org . 

During the 2007-2008 school year, Mrs. Drake served on Superintendent Kathy Cox's Teacher Advisory Council . 

Kristen is a member of DeKalb's Gifted Teacher Cadre, where she revises unit plans for gifted instruction in the county.

Mrs. Drake serves as a judge for DeKalb County's Technology Fair since 2007. She presented about the worksheetless classroom ®™ at the 2009 and 2010 events.

Kristen received four grants with inclusion teacher, Nancy Lorenz. During the 2004-2005 academic year, they received a grant from the Junior League of DeKalb County to purchase games for students to play at home. During the 2005-2006 year, the pair earned a grant entitled "You Read to Me, I'll Read to You," which allocated money for the purchase of books for paired reading.  During the 2007-08 school year, Drake and Lorenz received news that the grant proposal for "PlayStation" received partial funding for new games. In 2008-09, the team received another grant from the Junior League of DeKalb County for software for the interactive whiteboard. 

Mrs. Drake received two other grants.  In January 2009, Target granted funds for a field trip to DeKalb's landfill for the entire third grade.  For the 2009-2010 academic year, a grant was awarded from Sylvan Dell for eBooks.  The grant was a site license for the school for over 40 eBooks.

Kristen Drake and Nancy Lorenz have been leaders in collaboration.  For five years, the pair co-taught in an inclusive classroom.  They teach in small groups all day, effectively implementing station teaching.  100% of their third grade language arts students passed the third-grade reading portion of the state's Criterion-Referenced Competency Test (CRCT), a pass/fail assessment in Georgia.   They led professional development at several DeKalb County Public Schools including Woodward, Hawthorne, Vanderlyn, Oak Grove, Briarlake, and Brockett.

Kristen is very excited about the green initiative which began in August of 2008. Her worksheetless classroom ®™ is being used as a case study for DeKalb County's Going Green program . Additionally, the initiative has been recognized by the Georgia Partnership for  Excellence in Education, or GPEE, for best practices in education. Information can be found at http://www.gpee.org/Best-Practices.11.0.html .

DeKalb County School System featured Drake's worksheetless classroom in a video .

In June 2009, Kristen Drake was a guest of Harry Wong, author of First Days of School, at the Model Schools Conference.  Drake's CD's on small group instruction and the worksheetless classroom were featured in Dr. Wong's presentation.

In October 2009, Drake traveled around the state to visit six of Georgia's finest public schools with the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education.  It inspired her to transfer to a new school. 

In late January 2010, Drake explained how technology can impact literacy at a conference sponsored by the Georgia Reading Association.  She also described her classroom for DeKalb's Environmental Council and a class for teachers applying for gifted certification.

Drake is also a member of the A-Team cohort, where 20 DeKalb County teachers will use ActivInspire to improve instruction, practice, and assessment.  Mrs. Drake was also a finalist to participate in an NBC panel on Education called Education Nation. 

This is Mrs. Drake's fiftheenth year of teaching. She taught in both public and private schools.  For the 2010-11 academic year, Kristen teaches all subjects in second grade at Hightower Elementary School in DeKalb.

Should you need to contact Mrs. Drake about your child, please email Kristen_L_Drake@fc.dekalb.k12.ga.us . Thank you.  You may reach her by phone as well.  The school's main line is 678-678-7302.