Kimberly Oliver: National Teacher Of The Year!

If it wasn't for Alexander Russo's post over at This Week in Education, I wouldn't even of heard that the President had honored this year's top teacher:

President Bush presented Maryland kindergarten teacher Kimberly Oliver with the National Teacher of the Year award today and highlighted the importance of teachers in building the future of the country.

"Kim Oliver understands that the key to helping children succeed is fighting the soft bigotry of low expectations," the president said, citing one of the key tenets of his own education policy. "When a teacher believes that a child can learn, it's amazing what happens — a student believes that he or she can learn."

Oliver teaches at Broad Acres Elementary School in Silver Spring, Md. She is the 56th national teacher of the year and the first from Maryland.

Broad Acres has the highest level of poverty of any school in Montgomery Country. Ninety percent of Oliver's students qualify for federally subsidized meals, and nearly 80 percent do not speak English at home.

Read the whole thing.

I think that anyone who can do a good job working with kindergarten-age children certainly deserves a very special Red Apple Salute.

It's great to see a kindergarten teacher earn this national recognition.-------------------------------See this week's edition of The Carnival Of Education here and our latest posts over there.