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RES Ratner earns Master Teacher status
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Effingham County Schools Superintendent Randy Shearouse presents the certificate from the state recognizing Kirbi Ratner as a Master Teacher. - photo by Photo by Paul Floeckher

Kirbi Ratner is Effingham County’s newest Master Teacher.

Ratner, a fifth-grade teacher at Rincon Elementary School, was presented her state Master Teacher certificate at an Effingham County Board of Education meeting.

Ratner is the 17th Effingham County teacher to receive the certification since the school system began participating in 2008.

“She was one of only 24 this past year across the whole state to earn this honor,” said Becky Long, the Effingham County School System’s executive director of human resources.

The Master Teacher program recognizes K-12 public school teachers who have at least three years’ teaching experience in Georgia and “consistently demonstrate classroom excellence through gains in student achievement,” according to the Georgia Professional Standards Commission.

Teachers must also demonstrate excellence in professional learning, interpersonal skills, classroom management, confidentiality, professional conduct and communication with stakeholders.

Long praised Ratner’s “exemplary efforts” in the classroom. Effingham County Schools Superintendent Randy Shearouse called her “an overachiever.”

“She received her doctorate at a very young age, and now she’s a Master Teacher,” Shearouse said. “I can tell you, the student achievement part, her grades and scores are really high. She does an excellent job.”

Ratner earned her bachelor’s degree in early childhood education in 2005 and her master’s in adult education a year later. She received her doctoral degree in educational leadership in 2010.