Beth Barkley, an English-language teacher who works with immigrant students, has been named the 2024 Teacher of the Year for Washington, DC. Photo credit: The Washington Post
Many excellent educators all over our country are deserving of accolades. Today, I share the story of one of them with you. She is Beth Barkley, a high school teacher who has been named the 2024 Teacher of the Year for Washington, DC.
Beth teaches English as a Second Language to 9th and 10th graders at the International Academy at Cardozo Education Campus. The school was established to accommodate newly arrived immigrant students. Beth has worked at the school for eight years. One of her main responsibilities there is teaching Spanish-speaking students who arrive in the capital city on migrant buses from Texas and Arizona.
Beth passionately supports the rights of immigrant students. “All of our students deserve opportunity and being treated with dignity and respect, regardless of where they come from,” Beth declares. She also indicated that we need to “Welcome our students with love. They’re a part of our community. They’re leaders and change-makers in our community, and DC is a great city because they’re a part of it,” she said.
In addition to English language acquisition, Beth has taught a course in human rights and social action, and she has co-facilitated dialogues and social identity workshops with students. Beth works with her students to organize for justice, including a recent campaign for access to mental health services and resources for immigrant students and families. “We’ve been fighting for years for our undocumented students to have access to mental health support,” Beth comments. “Many of them have experienced a lot of trauma in their home countries.”
In addition to working with English learners at her school, Beth also serves as the teacher lead for the International Academy’s Family Engagement Leadership team. In this role she helps students and their families adapt to and succeed in their new educational environments.
Beth is very active outside of the classroom, too. She is a part of United We Dream and Teaching for Change’s DC Area Educators for Social Justice People’s History Curriculum working group.
Beth earned her Bachelor’s degree in English Language and Literature, with a minor in Spanish Language and Culture from the University of Maryland. She also earned her Master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction there.
In addition to her designation as DC’s Teacher of the Year, Beth was a 2020 DC Teacher of the Year finalist, and the recipient of the DCPS Rubenstein Award for Highly Effective Teaching.
