American Education Week 2008

November 16–22

Great Public Schools: A Basic Right and Our Responsibility

NEA's 87th annual American Education Week (AEW) spotlights the importance of providing every child in America with a quality public education from kindergarten through college, and the need for everyone to do his or her part in making public schools great.

Great Public Schools: A Basic Right and Our Responsibility reflects the Association's calling upon America to provide students with quality public schools so that they can grow, prosper, and achieve in the 21st century.

NEA's annual Substitute Educator Day poll names J.K. Rowling top pick

The votes have been tallied and the results are in. The celebrity America would most like to have as a substitute educator for a day is J.K. Rowling, creator of the "Harry Potter" fantasy series.

With 25 percent of the vote, Rowling grabbed top honors in the second annual Substitute Educator Day poll. The runners-up include Microsoft founder Bill Gates (23 percent) followed by golf superstar Tiger Woods (21 percent), "Ugly Betty" actress America Ferrera (18 percent) and blockbuster movie director/producer Steven Spielberg (13 percent). NEA received more than 4,500 responses to the poll, which was conducted in advance of Substitute Educators Day.

Educators First: Members of Congress Remember Their Days in the Classroom

More than 75 legislators were educators before their election to Congress. Do you know who they are?

Use Our Materials!

Use our online tools to plan your celebration.

The materials presented here reflect NEA's mission as an advocate for the nation's public schools, school employees, and the communities they serve.

Other organizations are free to use this material or create their own. If you use this material, please credit NEA as the creator of content (art, theme, articles, resources).