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Joshua Anderson, a language arts teacher from Olathe Northwest High School and Olathe NEA member, may be selected this year as the 57th recipient of the nation’s top teaching honor -- National Teacher of the Year. It was announced today that he is a national finalist.

The National Teacher of the Year Program began in 1952 and continues as the oldest, most prestigious national honors program that focuses public attention on excellence in teaching.  The National Teacher of the Year is chosen from among the State Teachers of the Year by a national selection committee representing the major national education organizations. Each April, the National Teacher of the Year is introduced to the American people by the President of the United States. The National Teacher of the Year is released from classroom duties during the year of recognition to travel nationally and internationally as a spokesperson for the teaching profession.

Chosen as the 2007 Kansas Teacher of the Year, Anderson is the third Kansan in as many years to be selected as a national finalist. Kansas tops teachers from the past two years, Ron Poplau from NEA Shawnee Mission and Kyle Hileman from DeSoto TA, were also finalist. 

Anderson was named Kansas Teacher of the Year from a field of eight finalists. Selected from a pool of more than 100 nominations, the members 2007 Kansas Teacher of the Year Team are working together to advocate for students, teaching and education. 

• Mary Collins, a second-grade teacher at Council Grove Elementary School.
• Sheryl Smith, visual arts teacher at Buhler High School.
• Bonnie Kastanek, a first-grade teacher at Woodrow Wilson Elementary School in Manhattan.
• Lori Atkins Goodson, a seventh-grade language arts teacher at Wamego Middle School.
• Carrie Mugridge, a third-grade teacher at Prairie Ridge Elementary School in Shawnee (DeSoto USD 232).
• Martha Hadsall, a third-grade teacher at Harper Elementary School (Anthony-Harper USD 361).
• DeAnn Nelson, a seventh-grade mathematics teacher at Truesdell Middle School in Wichita.

The Kansas Teacher of the Year team visited with both the House and Senate Education Committees this week and did a beautiful job telling legislators what they need to think about if they want to maintain and improve on the legacy of excellence in Kansas public schools.

They noted Kansas students and teachers are willing to work hard, and in fact, are working hard. Because of, and despite of, changing environments, requirements, student needs, etc., Kansas public school students are achieving great success.

Front and center in their comments where many things for which KNEA has been advocating for years: quality professional development, effective and comprehensive mentoring and induction, small class sizes, stable funding, and getting out of the way of quality teachers working with their students. They also advocated for support services, telling legislators that they consider counselors, librarians, para-professionals, and other support providers to be money spent “in the classroom” and integral to the success of our schools.

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