Result List
We Will Not Erase History
How Grades Fail (And What You Can Do About It)
The Pride Flag Flies Again
In Appreciation of School Librarians
Great Summer Reads for Educators!
How Unions Are Fighting for Retirement Security
Special Sections
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In the KnowExplore education news and trends
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Issues and ActionHistoric win: $1 billion for student mental health
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From Our SponsorThe experts at Lysol share tips for improving classroom hygiene and keeping you classroom virus-free this cold and flu season.
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Try This: TechnologyHow ChatGPT can help with your lesson plans
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Try This: EngageAs the school year ends, celebrate the bittersweet
Departments
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Education Support ProfessionalsPamella Johnson Goes the Distance for Equity and ESPs
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Our VoicesA group of students in California provides solar power to a Kenyan school.
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Last LookUnion pride on display
Editor's Note: A Letter of Gratitude
As the school year draws to a close, I am in awe of all that you, our members, have done to help students learn and grow. It’s been a tough year. But in this issue of NEA Today, we see the many ways you have joined together as a community to nurture students’ development and advocate for their well-being.
In our cover story, “We Will Not Erase History,” educators persevere in teaching the truth about racism, amidst efforts to ban the topic in some districts. Like you, these educators know that students want and need to know the truth, and they will do everything they can to ensure that students keep learning.
Equally inspiring is NEA’s 2023 ESP of the Year, Washington behavior interventionist Pamella Johnson, who supports the emotional needs of high school students with behavioral risks. She also advocates for equity for Native students and students of color in her school community as well as at the state level. Washington Education Association President Larry Delaney aptly describes her as “the living embodiment of a servant-leader.”
At the heart of our communities, we often find the school librarian. Our story “In Appreciation of School Librarians” applauds these educators who continue to enrich and expand student learning, even as their work comes under political fire. When South Carolina librarian Cassondra Owens Moore reads to students with autism, in their classroom, because those students can’t go to the library, imagine how those students feel seen and heard.
And in Stonington, Conn., where one parent’s complaint led a school to strip pride flags from its walls, teacher Jennifer Stefanowicz and her colleagues supported a student-led mobilization against the ban. (See “The Pride Flag Flies Again.”) Thanks to student and union activism, the flags were reinstated within two weeks.
The good work that you and your colleagues do every day helps students live into their full potential. For that, we thank you.
Have a wonderful summer!
Anitrá Speight, Associate Publisher and Director
