National Teacher of the Year Betsy Rogers views poor school performance, often measured by student achievement, as a consequence of inequities in education.

When schools aren’t performing well, there are reasons why—and resources are one,” says Rogers. “We have schools in Alabama that spend as much as $5,000 per child and as little at $300 per child. We don’t have a level playing field.”

Since becoming National Teacher of the Year, Rogers has been delivering her message about the need for equity in education to national organizations; community, civic and teacher groups; and policymakers at all levels of government. Even the pomp and circumstance of the April White House ceremony where she received the honor did not draw this Alabama elementary teacher off her point: “We all want to live in a country where all our children are valued so much that there would never be an issue of equity in education. And we all want to live in a country where our citizens would be outraged if any child attended a school where the classroom environment was not safe, secure and nurturing. All of us want to live in a country where our legacy to the world is how we’ve taken care of our children.”

Her message is blunt. But with an infectious smile and Southern charm, Rogers subtly underscores the discrepancies between our nation’s stated values in education and policies that hurt children. She challenges her audiences to think.

A glimpse at Rogers’ almost 20-year teaching career at Leeds Elementary School, a Title I school in Leeds, Ala., just outside Birmingham, partially explains her passion about education equity. “Betsy has spent her career working with at-risk kids and kids who other teachers sometimes shy away from because they have so many problems,” says Vi Parramore, president of Rogers’ local, the Jefferson County American Federation of Teachers.

But a look at how Rogers became Alabama Teacher of the Year, then 2003 National Teacher of the Year reveals her devotion both to children and to the teaching profession. Within the past five years, Rogers has received her master’s degree, an educational specialist degree, a doctorate—and certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. “I waited 24 years before I returned to higher education,” she says, “but my point is, it is never too late.”

The Jefferson County American Federation of Teachers is celebrating Rogers as America’s number one teacher with a billboard campaign in Jefferson County and Montgomery, the state capital. After all, she is Alabama’s first National Teacher of the Year. She also is a longtime AFT activist.

“When Betsy got the award, she called me and said: ‘Vi, the AFT has been my organization, and I want to use this award to help my union,’” Parramore recalls.

The fact is, Rogers has been helping her union by staying focused on the AFT’s mission: teaching our children.

The National Teacher of the Year program is sponsored by the Council of Chief State School Officers and Scholastic Inc.

William Crane: Spare the test, save the child

Would young children be better served by a walk in the woods than by the results of a standardized test? William Crain, professor of psychology at the City University of New York (CUNY) and author of Reclaiming Childhood: Letting Children Be Children in Our Achievement-Oriented Society (New York: Times Books, 2003), thinks so, arguing that the current high-stakes academic atmosphere is stifling the learning potential of toddlers and young children.

Citing Rousseau and generations of child-centered educators as his inspirations, Crain ponders whether society’s preoccupation with the future of children is depriving them of valuable opportunities for growth.

Young children are drawn to nonacademic pursuits, such as artistic creation, imaginative play and natural settings, notes Crain. Forcing stringent academics and sterile environments on children destroys their innate love of learning, creating lackadaisical, uninterested students who learn less—driving down test scores and achievement.

“Bush is pushing tests for Head Start,” says Crain. “The current excesses are so great when you’re thinking of testing four-year olds. How can you test a four-year-old?”

Worse than national policy are parents who pressure their children to engage in “the proper” extracurricular activities to gain acceptance at prestigious universities. This only increases the disconnect between what children want to learn and what society forces them to learn. Crain recalls one friend advocating participation in tennis over baseball for young girls, declaring “no future in baseball”—even as his own daughter asked to play baseball.

“Kids should enjoy what they enjoy right now,” says the CUNY professor, an officer in the Professional Staff Council (PSC). “We must consider the child’s future and give some direction to children’s learning, but it’s just as important to pay close attention to the child’s present interests and needs.”

With pediatricians diagnosing rising stress levels in elementary school children, including headaches and sleeplessness, Crain’s warning resonates. In his book, though, Crain concentrates more on the “present interests and needs” of children. He shares examples of how Maria Montessori observed young children repeatedly performing spatial tasks for hours on end until, for instance, a child emerged “in a dreamlike state” completely satisfied with herself; how a four-year-old boy let individual grains of sand slip through his hands at the beach, engrossed; and how children across the world have created imaginary friends, engaging in a degree of fanciful play that requires immense concentration and creativity.

Crain advocates more time for children to develop these skills, both at home and in school. Endorsing a system of holistic assessment through portfolios, Crain also recommends using “evaluation groups” to spot-check classrooms in districts throughout the country and to advise school boards, a system in use in Great Britain.

Crain came to this subject naturally after the birth of his first child, delving into the roots of development while changing diapers and tutoring. When A Nation at Risk was released, Crain foresaw the approaching standards movement and ran for the school board of his town, Teaneck, N.J., serving nine years. His main goals were to keep lower grades as “playful entries to the school system” and address racial inequality in the system of tracked classes.

Yet Crain’s social activism spans beyond the test-or-not-to-test debate. On the school board, he attacked the racial inequality he found in tracked and non-tracked classes. At CUNY, he actively advocates for open admissions and lower tuition—Crain even went on a successful hunger strike to keep in-state tuition status for illegal immigrants.

Crain, the chair of the PSC Open Access Committee, says “I’ve been fighting very hard against anything that keeps the working class and people of color out of universities.”

--Mark Henson