Nation’s top teacher visits Oklahoma
During an era of teacher frustration in Oklahoma’s public schools, America’s top teacher delivered a message of resolve last week during a visit to the state.
“Because the state of education in Oklahoma is such a challenge right now, I think the people who still choose this profession are that much more important,” said Jahana Hayes, a Connecticut high school teacher who was named the 2016 National Teacher of the Year.
Hayes was named the nation’s top teacher by the Council of Chief State School Officers and was selected from a pool of finalists that included Shawn Sheehan, Oklahoma’s 2016 teacher of the year.
Hayes was the keynote speaker at the University of Central Oklahoma’s Honoring a Noble Profession event on Wednesday, a celebration of the school’s teacher preparation program.
Oklahoma teachers have experienced years of average pay ranking at or near the bottom nationally and last month voters defeated a sales tax increase for a $5,000 raise.
A lot of attention has been paid to the struggle of the profession in Oklahoma, including many teachers who recently have left the state in search of better-paying positions.
Hayes said she understood the frustration teachers may have and saw it as a national epidemic.
“Over the last couple weeks, as I’ve been traveling around the country, I’ve struggled because there is this idea that the state of education is so bleak,” Hayes told The
Oklahoman.
“There is this fatalistic view in the direction of our education system and the work teachers do. But young people are still eager to enter the profession and there remain many who are dedicated to this profession.”