Celebrate Your Favorite Teacher as an American Pioneer of Teaching

Teachers play an integral in educating every child across the country.  School Choice Now! is very happy to spread the word about a way we can celebrate the millions of teachers around the country! 

The National Coalition for Public School Options, a group of parents and advocates working to ensure that all parents have the choice to choose the best public school for their children, taking nominations for the American Pioneer of Teaching Award.

The award is given to teachers who have changed a student’s academic life.  This teacher is passionate, dedicated, and works with students’ individual learning needs.

Why did the National Coalition for Public School Options create this award?

Here's what their website has to say:

The American Pioneer of Teaching Award recognizes teachers whose primary field is in public schools of choice like charter schools and online schools. Recipients will receive a physical award and will be recognized by our organization's national board of directions.

Please take a moment and thank the teachers who have shaped our children’s lives—and don’t forget to nominate that one teacher who has helped transform your or your child’s academic life!

- American Federation for Children | Alliance for School Choice, MSG

Common Ground In A Most Uncommon Pair of Sources

A leader of a very prominent education organization was recently quoted in a widely-read newspaper in one of America's most well-known cities about alternative learning styles. A former teacher himself, he made a claim with which we couldn't agree more:

"Everybody doesn't learn at the same pace."

And then there's this:

 To suggest that all kids are able to learn using only one medium wasn't realistic years ago, and we don't function that way today.

Can you guess who made those statements? The former comes from National Education Association President Dennis Van Roekel, and the latter from Heidi Glidden, the assistant director in the education issues department for the American Federation of Teachers. We rarely see eye-to-eye with the nation's two biggest teachers unions on education reform issues (in large part because we're proposing reforms and the NEA is just now coming around to including student performance in teacher evaluations), but on this point, both spokespeople are right on the money.

The comments came in a story about Khan Academy in The Washington Post. Khan isn't exactly a school, but instead it's an expansive, nonprofit online resource that serves as a supplement to education in the traditional classroom setting. Using the web site, kids can get basic tutorials in a host of subjects at their own pace, whenever they need them, and in a way that can be catered to their specific needs.

Pro-Reform Does Not Mean Anti-Teacher

Legendary teacher Annie Sullivan and ed reformer Geoffrey Canada.

Broad strokes work wonders as a rallying cry or to stir the emotions of a constituency, but they're less useful when it comes to accurately communicating the facts.

Such were the circumstances this weekend, as a few thousand teachers and other public school advocates descended upon the nation's capital to march in a "Save Our Schools" rally that aimed to, according to those in attendance, "put the 'public' back in 'public schools.'" Attendees were there to voice their opposition to a host of reforms—the growing emphasis on testing, No Child Left behind, attempts at teacher tenure reform, charter schools, and vouchers—just to name a few.

They were quick to paint a picture of an education reform movement as entirely anti-teacher, something that we here at the American Federation for Children know couldn't be farther from the truth. While there has been emphasis (especially recently) in some parts of the reform movement to tackle things like teacher tenure, merit pay and the so-called "dance of the lemons," we couldn't be stronger advocates for high-quality teachers, of which there are many. Some of us are the sons and daughters of public school teachers, and every single one of us recognizes that great teachers are some of the most important—and most under-appreciated—group of American workers that exist today.