Latest news with #CouncilofChiefStateSchoolOfficers
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Teacher of the Year Asks Rural Students to Tackle Big Global Topics With Empathy
Ashlie Crosson has always loved the classroom. Growing up in Mifflin County, Pennsylvania, as one of seven kids of divorced parents, 'I found school to be this place of stability, while some other parts of my life were in transition and in changes,' Crosson told The 74 in a recent interview. 'I was a pretty natural student most of the time,' she added, 'but it was mostly because I had incredible teachers who invested in their students so far beyond what is expected of the job.' Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter She said she can remember all the way back to a kindergarten teacher who wrote her letters over the summer because she'd be her teacher again in first grade. 'I think I looked at that and said, 'This is an incredibly rewarding way to spend a life.'' It became a 14-year career that rewarded Crosson back — and on the national stage. The AP English teacher and high school journalism advisor was named the 2025 National Teacher of the Year April 29 by the Council of Chief State School Officers. The award, which follows her earning the Pennsylvania Teacher of the Year title, allows Crosson to spend the next year traveling across the country as an ambassador to fellow educators. Ashlie Crosson is interviewed on CBS Mornings on April 29 after being unveiled as the winner of the 2025 National Teacher of the Year. (CBS Mornings) She'll step away from her hometown high school five years after she went back there to answer 'this higher calling to return to the place that made me into a successful adult and into somebody who had found joy and happiness in their adult life.' Crosson, a first-generation college graduate, was selected from a pool of 56 local winners who were narrowed down to three other finalists: American Samoa's Mikaela Saelua, an English language teacher who is the first finalist from the seven islands in the program's history; Washington, D.C.'s Jazzmyne Townsend, an elementary school special education teacher and children's book author; and Colorado's Janet Renee Damon, a high school history teacher at a transfer school who runs a school-based podcast program focused on mental health disparities. Related Fostering Culture & Belonging: Reflections from Teacher of the Year Finalists 'Ashlie is an authentic, self-reflective leader who uses her experiences to help elevate her students into successful careers and life after high school,' the National Teacher of the Year Selection Committee said in a statement. 'She is also a strong and passionate representative for educators, using her voice to help people understand the weight of the teaching profession and the gravity of what teachers do.' Crosson said she grounds the bulk of her classroom work in real-world connections and projects, which allow her students to explore English from a careers-based perspective, while also building understanding and empathy for people of diverse backgrounds across the world. This is perhaps most apparent in her 10th-grade elective course called Survival Stories, which she began designing as a Fulbright Teachers for Global Classrooms fellow. In it, she wants her students to consider sweeping questions like, 'What problems are we trying to solve and in what ways do we need to communicate across borders?' To keep the course accessible and age appropriate, all the material —from non-fiction texts and memoirs, to podcasts and films — come from the voices of teens and adolescents. This allows her students, Crosson said, to have, 'really authentic and approachable conversations about things that can feel really big and really unapproachable.' Mifflin County, Pennsylvania (Mifflin County PA Official Website) In today's political climate, traversing some of these charged topics in rural Mifflin — an almost exclusively white town of just over 46,000, where almost 80% of the vote went to President Donald Trump in 2024 — might seem daunting. Crosson's approach is to begin with texts that take place as far from central Philadelphia as possible, so that by the time students reach stories from their own community — some of which they may have otherwise met with preconceived notions — they are able to analyze them with more nuance, greater empathy and a stronger text-based knowledge. 'We are all here, going through our own human experience,' Crosson said. She wants her students to ask, ' 'How do I relate to these people? How do I better understand these people?' Because at the end of the day, my students also want to be better understood. So there's a reciprocity there.' When her students come to her with challenging political questions — for example about Trump's recent executive orders looking to eradicate any focus on diversity, equity and inclusion in schools — she encourages them to return to the facts, asking, 'What are the actual details?' Related The Education Department Asked for Reports of DEI. It Might Get Something Else 'I'm able to keep my opinions out of things because I'm also first asking my students to put their opinions on pause,' she said, 'so that we have a chance to become more informed about things and have a better, more well-rounded understanding of what's going on before we start trying to figure out our feelings about it.' In addition to Survival Stories, Crosson teaches AP language and composition and 10th-grade English, while also running the school's journalism elective. At the newspaper and district magazine, called the Pawprint, she functions more as a boss and editor than teacher, she said, a position she cherishes, especially since a number of the high schoolers end up going into journalism. 'If students are basically getting simulations of future careers, I love that. And I love facilitating that.' Related Best Stories by USC Student Journalists of 2024 Crosson's classroom is covered with colorful student artwork from floor to ceiling and one corner hosts the 'One Word Board,'where students place the word that will most motivate and inspire them throughout the year. In a video for CBS Mornings, her students were asked to choose five words to describe Crosson: joyful, funny, caring, energetic (but not too much), passionate and dedicated were among their picks. One student said she sees Crosson as 'a safe space.' Another said that whenever she spots students struggling, 'She'll try to make you better as a student and [in] doing that you also learn lessons in how to take help and help others. So I think it makes students better people.' Along with her teaching responsibilities, Crosson serves as the communications chair for her union's negotiating team, assists with the school's Positive Behavior Interventions and Support programming, leads the district's international student trips and co-hosts 'The PL Playbook,' a podcast dedicated to teachers' professional learning. When asked her favorite book to teach, Crosson laughed and said, 'I honestly think that every book becomes my favorite book.' 'There are some books that I've taught for 10 years,' she continued 'and so now there's so many different colored pens [on the pages]. The book is the timeline of my teaching career. And there's something really beautiful about that.'
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Ashlie Crosson named 2025 National Teacher of the Year
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. Supreme Court appears poised to side with student with disability in school discrimination case Japan's population shrinking as marriage and birth rates plummet | 60 Minutes Trump tariffs executive order expected
CBS News
29-04-2025
- General
- CBS News
Ashlie Crosson named 2025 National Teacher of the Year: "It's an incredible honor"
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.
Yahoo
26-02-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Opinion: Teacher Preparation Needs to Catch Up with School Reform
The 2024 National Assessment of Education Progress results show that public school students haven't made the rebound that everyone had hoped for post-COVID. While math scores rose slightly for fourth graders and did not change for eighth graders, reading scores for both groups of students fell to the lowest levels in decades. But if classroom instruction isn't improving, we shouldn't be surprised that test scores are stagnant or dropping. How teachers are taught to teach—along with what curriculum materials they use with students and how they use those materials—are the most critical factors for improving student learning. Many state education leaders are doing their part to ensure school districts adopt high-quality curriculum materials and help teachers use them well. The colleges and universities that prepare teachers to enter the profession largely have not. Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter Back in 2017, the Council of Chief State School Officers formed a network of interested state departments of education – called the High Quality Instructional Materials and Professional Development Network – to put good curriculum into the hands of teachers. The network is getting its job done: According to RAND's own research and that of the states themselves, more teachers are using curriculum materials for English language arts and mathematics that are aligned with rigorous state standards. More schools are also providing professional development to teachers that is grounded in their curriculum materials. Louisiana – a network state that is also a model for state curriculum reform efforts – was the only state to see gains in fourth-grade reading scores on NAEP since 2017. Louisiana and Mississippi, another network member, were two of only four states that have seen gains in fourth-grade mathematics since 2017. Related But one area where we consistently have seen little change is in college and university teacher preparation programs. In surveys every year since 2019, RAND has asked teachers across the nation which approach their teacher preparation program emphasized: (a) 'how to develop my own lessons and unit plans,' or (b) 'how to skillfully use and modify curricula provided to me.' Year over year, only about 10% of U.S. teachers indicate that their program emphasized helping them use curriculum materials. A little less than half say the emphasis was on how to develop their own lessons and unit plans. The balance say their program emphasized both or neither. These percentages hold regardless of the teacher's state, whether the teacher is in an elementary or high school; in an urban or rural school; in an English language arts/reading, math or science classroom; or was trained 20 years ago versus in the past five years. All teacher preparation programs should show teachers-in-training how to skillfully use the curricula they are given. This is a prerequisite to ensuring that most children meet state academic standards. Think about it: If every teacher uses a school-provided curriculum that is aligned with their state standards, the chances of meeting those standards is better than if teachers are reinventing the wheel by developing their own lessons. Related Other data beyond our surveys underscore this point: Teacher preparation is slow to incorporate what we know about good classroom instruction. For example, the 2000 National Reading Panel report and follow-on research confirmed that elementary schoolers need instruction in five key components: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension. Yet, in NCTQ's 2023 nationwide review of the elementary reading course syllabi of nearly 700 teacher preparation programs, they found that only 25% of those programs adequately addressed those five core components of reading instruction. Another 25% didn't adequately address any of those components. The idea that teachers should write their own curriculum is outdated and ill-serving; it's a holdover from the era before the advent of academic standards in the U.S. and growing knowledge about what makes a good curriculum material. These days, according to a recent RAND American Instructional Resources Survey, less than 2% of school principals encourage teachers to develop their own curriculum. Instead, most principals expect teachers to use their required curriculum materials. At their best, professional curricula are developed by experts in subject matter and pedagogy, are written to build students' knowledge over time, and have been endorsed by third party organizations such as EdReports that deem the material aligned with state academic standards. Adopting a prepared curriculum needn't turn teachers into robots; it takes considerable skill and subject-matter knowledge to use any materials thoughtfully and productively. Teacher prep programs should give teachers ample, hands-on training on how to use their grade-level curriculum materials and the expertise to make just-in-time adjustments that help students catch up when they are struggling to master those materials. States and school districts know that curriculum matters. Many have revamped their policies accordingly. It's time for teacher preparation programs to do the same.
Yahoo
26-02-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Fostering Culture & Belonging: Reflections from Teacher of the Year Finalists
Like most teachers, the nation's top four educators wear many hats. They are journalism advisors, volleyball coaches, mentors, authors, learners, environmental conservationists, meditation guides, literacy coaches, and equity advocates. Their communities range from a small island in America Samoa serving multilingual, Indigenous students; a rural town in Pennsylvania; an immigrant hub in Denver; to a proud but underserved Black neighborhood in Washington D.C. Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter Though the communities they serve cover a broad spectrum, 2025's Teacher of the Year finalists recognized by the Council of Chief State School Officers are united in their commitment to children. Related Chosen from a pool of 56 local winners,they have found ways to make kids excited about school in a particularly difficult period in public education's history. The finalists, all English and history educators, have designed lessons and extracurriculars for students to reflect on some of the most pressing issues today: Gun violence, substance abuse, suicide, poverty, food insecurity, health and hygiene, and the environment. They acknowledge the world outside school walls, involve local organizations to expand students' opportunities, and prioritize building relationships with kids and their families. 'Students don't care how much you know until they know how much you care,' said elementary teacher Jazzmyne Townsend, Washington D.C.'s finalist. Utilizing family interview projects, field trips to hydroponic farms and herbal gardens, all four find ways to bring students' experiences, cultures and curiosities into the classroom. At a time when public education is under fiscal and political threat from the Trump administration, finalists share what has nourished their careers and how they keep joy in learning: All of Mikaela Saelua's high school students are learning English as a second language. Their mother tongue is Samoan – poetic, full of expressive vowel sounds and unique – leaving most words without a direct English translation. To break up the monotony of reading and writing, she launched a song translation project. In what culminates in music videos, students learn figurative idioms, metaphors and words to capture the soul of Samoan songs. 'The goal isn't just to teach them English; it's to help them appreciate and express themselves in a way that feels true to who they are,' Saelua wrote in her finalist application. Saelua encourages student expression outside the classroom as an advisor for a peer leader club, which with the help of a local nonprofit, performs skits at local elementary schools to discuss hard topics, from substance use to suicide. America Samoa exceeded the world's average for suicide for over 20 years. Saelua's school in particular has lost two students in the last three years. Their teachers are learning to spot warning signs in things like journal entries. Saelua, a proud product of America Samoa's public education system who returned after a spell of homesickness in California, is the first finalist from the seven islands in the program's history. 'I'm carrying that with me and I don't carry it li ghtly,' she said. '… it's more than just me. It's now me and all of American Samoa.' As wildfires raged in Los Angeles earlier this year, two former students ran into Ashlie Crosson's Pennsylvania classroom, cell phones in hand. The sophomores shared headlines about the Trump administration's federal funding freeze and how it could threaten recovery – exclaiming how taking away resources during a catastrophe was exactly like what they'd read in Dry by Jarrod and Neal Shusterman. They were curious: How was the media covering this? What would happen next? Related Dry was the only fiction text from their course Survival Stories, a half-year elective designed by Crossen for students to build media literacy and talk about what they see happening in the real world. And though they'd read it months earlier, they were making connections and eager to chat. In Survival Stories, they'd discussed humanitarian crises through the lens of young people surviving them – such as immigrant youth workers across the country and stories about families navigating the Darién Gap. Survival is not new to their community, deeply impacted by the opioid epidemic. Crosson brings in texts that show them 'what you're experiencing here isn't isolated. These are problems that exist all over the place. Your hometown is not the 'problem.'' Now in her fourteenth year teaching, she stays attuned to body language, emotional reactions, attendance. A kid's experience in her classroom clues her into their world. She has also found ways for young people growing up in poverty to challenge negative associations with their area and build hope for future careers by taking reins of a dwindling journalism program. 'I teach English, but I can't really get to that content if I don't have a rapport and understanding of my students and what their needs are,' Crosson said. '… There's no content mastery happening in American schools right now if we're not evaluating and meeting the needs of students and families.' Coming from a family of teachers, Jazzmyne Townsend wanted to carve her own path in business. But today the Washington, D.C. Teacher of the Year is a self described 'big kid' – eager to be on the floor, immersed in sand, Play-Doh, and paint, modeling active listening and motor skills. 'I'm willing to hold your hand and walk you through it until you are in a place where I can release you to do that independently,' the special education teacher explained about her approach with her second and third graders. She's the teacher that knows their families and weekend plans, who notices their haircuts and new shoes, who shows up to games that are important to them. Townsend launched a My Sister's Keeper, a place for kids to gather twice a week to chat about their bodies, social media, healthy relationships and whatever was weighing on them. She makes a point, too, of sharing her experiences with kids so they can dream big. A children's book author, she explained the process of drafting a manuscript, pairing with an illustrator and publishing. Her kids then became authors and illustrators themselves. Their book publishing project became a community showcase, with one student choosing the ability to manage the world's trash, to keep the planet clean and healthy. 'I'm showing you in my actions, how we interact and how we engage,' she said. 'I'm showing you that I'm invested in you… Kids need people who are irrationally passionate about them.' Related After 25 years in the classroom, high school history teacher Janet Renee Damon finds herself working at a transfer high school, a culmination of 'all of my skills, all of my heart and all of my joy.' She spends her days joking and encouraging introverted, empathetic 'diamond souls,' kids who've faced undue pressure who are still shining through parental death or incarceration, the trauma of immigration, homelessness, gun and gang violence and teen pregnancy. Over half of Damon's students are immigrants, from Rwanda to Honduras and Iraq. All have mourned someone killed by gun violence. She guides students in breathing and meditation exercises, a tool for emotional regulation. They create 'life maps,' imagining how to prepare for life's milestones, like renting an apartment. Related She explores, 'how history has impacted your own community, your own family.' After a project where students explored how the body's DNA is impacted by generational trauma, one student told her he never used substances again. She and her administrators are committed: When kids don't show, a team goes looking, conducting home visits. Damon also helped students' bridge past and present through an ongoing podcast program. Students researched the history of mental health disparities and called attention to their high needs for support amid clinical shortages, landing on Colorado Public Radio. Only 5% of registered psychologists nationwide speak Spanish. After their podcast went on air, a Therapists of Color collective reached out to provide care free of charge. The student podcast project led another to discover her family were survivors of the federal government's Indian Residential Schools. A different high schooler interviewed a relative about his history with incarceration. Both said the work was 'healing' and helped them feel closer to their families and identity. Related 'We have to make school a place where kids want to be,' Renee Damon said, 'not just have to be.'
