Arkansas middle school teacher Ashley Anderson has garnered a coveted 2023 Milken Educator Award. Photo credit: Milken Educator Awards

Many outstanding teachers who work in our nation’s public schools deserve recognition. One of them is Ashley Anderson, a middle school teacher from Greenbriar, Arkansas. She has garnered a prestigious 2023 Milken Educator Award.

Teacher Magazine has described the Milken Educator Awards as the “Oscars of Teaching.” In addition to a $25,000 cash prize and public recognition, the honor includes membership in the National Milken Educator Network, a group of more than 3,000 exemplary teachers, principals, and specialists from all over the country who work together to strengthen best practices in education. To learn more, click on Milken Educator Awards.

Ashley teaches English to six graders at Greenbriar Middle School. A creative and innovative educator, she designed a unique sixth-grade course based on the RISE model (Resilient in Schools and Educators). Her curriculum resulted in amazing growth in her students on classroom assessments. Furthermore, Ashley works collaboratively with Special Education teachers on her campus to ensure the curriculum is accessible and challenging for all her learners. Her inclusive strategies are used throughout Greenbrier Middle School. And just to give her students an extra layer of support, she volunteers many unpaid hours in her school’s after school tutoring program.

Student success is the driving factor of much of Ashley’s energy. Each year, she assists in the coordination of the Greenbrier Games, an Olympic-style event that gets students excited about upcoming testing. She also decorates floats for family and community night, and sends encouraging pre-testing videos to staff, students, and families. She organizes “Walk in My Shoes” nights, during which fifth graders come to the school to meet teachers, tour the school, and learn more about their upcoming middle school transition.

In addition to her work with youngsters, Ashley mentors first-year teachers, and she is an active member of the district’s leadership team, curriculum committee, and literacy Professional Learning Community (PLC).

Ashley earned her Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education from Arkansas Tech University in 2018.

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.

English language educator Ivona Todorovic from Grand Forks, North Dakota, has been named her state’s 2023 Teacher of the Year. Photo credit: Grand Forks Herald

It is always my pleasure to recognize exceptional educators who have been honored for their work with students. One of these is Ivona Todorovic, a high school English teacher from Grand Forks, North Dakota. She has been named her state’s 2023 Teacher of the Year.

Ivona teaches English language learners in grades 9—2 at Red River High School, Grand Forks.

In addition to her work with students, Ivona organizes district-wide professional development to provide support for general education teachers about effective ways to work with new Americans and immigrant students. She helped to create “Culture Night” on her high school campus. The event has become a community-wide celebration and opportunity for her students to share their cultures through dance, music, food, poetry, and crafts.

Ivona is a native of Bosnia and Herzegovina, She grew up in Zenica, about 43 miles northeast of Sarajevo in southeastern Europe. When the former nation of Yugoslavia broke up into six independent republics in the early 1990s, war and ethnic conflict ensued. That’s when Ivona and her husband, Alex, emigrated to the United States as refugees. The Todorovics arrived in Grand Forks in June, 1995.

Here in the United States, Ivona worked as a Title I para-educator at an elementary school, where her determination to teach again became stronger than ever. She worked in this role for ten years. Next, Ivona enrolled at the University of North Dakota, where she earned her Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education. Soon after, through the resident teacher program, she earned a Master’s degree in Education with an emphasis in Reading Education. She also earned a degree in Elementary Education from the University of Sarajevo.

After completing her education, Ivona accepted a position as an English Language teacher in the Grand Forks Public Schools, where she has taught for the past 17 years.