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Teachers of the Year: Kick Open Your Classroom Doors

The Council of Chief State School Officers and the Center for Teaching Quality have developed an online community for past and present state Teachers of the Year. These accomplished teachers recently took part in a three-day intensive discussion about the public perception of the teaching profession. The discussion, summarized here, took place on the NTOY Network, an online community of the Teacher Leaders Network .

How much do Americans really know about the quality of teaching in our schools? And is what they "know" based on evidence—or on the most recent sensationalistic headline on the national news?

In a recent PDK/Gallup poll , 79 percent of parents gave their child's school a grade of A or B. When all adults' responses are considered (parents and non-parents), only 51 percent would give local schools an A or B. And when all adults are asked to grade the nation 's schools, only 17 percent would assign them...