Ashlie Crosson named 2025 National Teacher of the Year: "It's an incredible honor"

CBS News

29-04-2025

Ashlie Crosson, an English teacher at Mifflin County High School in Lewistown, Pennsylvania, was exclusively revealed on "CBS Mornings" as the 2025 National Teacher of the Year. The Council of Chief State School Officers selects the winner each year.
"It's an incredible honor," Crosson told "CBS Mornings." "It feels like a big responsibility, but it's also this incredible choice or chance to share my kids and my community with our country and at the same time sort of receive that back from teachers all over our nation, and that's the perfect opportunity."
Crosson's courses include advanced placement language and composition. In a tribute video, her former and current students described her as passionate, caring, intelligent and dedicated.
"She taught me a lot about finding your own identity and finding your passion with things," one student said.
Crosson, who has been teaching for 14 years, said authenticity is a big factor in how she teaches, something her students have responded well to.
"I think especially at the high school level, students are trying to figure out who they are, and they need to see that from their teachers, too. If we want them to figure out their identity, then we have to be ourselves as well, because they're going to learn through what they observe," she said.
Principal Kelly Campagna credits the energy Crosson brings to her classroom every day, saying she makes her students "extend and stretch beyond comfort levels because she wants to get the most out of them."
Even after receiving praise for her work, Crosson acknowledged her students.
"They come in, they show up, and they make the job easy," she said.
Her goals go beyond her high school classroom and into adulthood.
"I think for our students, the more experience they have at the high school level, or younger than that, where they have the chance to struggle, fail, try again, try something new, then the more confident they're going to be when they become adults."
She's also the adviser for the school journalism program. Crosson said she teaches her students the fundamentals of journalism, including interviewing, sources and being a consumer of news.
"She taught me everything I know about writing, and taking journalism with Miss Crosson definitely opened my eyes to how much I enjoy writing," said Mina Phillips, a former student and current sports reporter for a local newspaper.
When asked about national implications on education and President Trump's executive order to dismantle the Department of Education, she said, "I think that there's a lot of change and uncertainty going on with the national level of things, but within our classes, our focus is always on students and on meeting their needs and meeting the needs of our community, and so I think a lot of that will stay our focus."
To support teachers, Crosson said it's important to focus on what you can do for your community.
"Every school and every community's needs are different, and so find what your place needs, what your home needs, and that engagement and that involvement between families and businesses and stakeholders in the community is what creates a thriving school district," she said.