Thank a Teacher This Week!

This week is Teacher Appreciation Week, and across town we will be recognizing the wonderful work of and saying thank you with special breakfasts, lunches and flowers given by our school families. 

We are so fortunate.  We live in a community that places a high value on education and in sustaining the excellent schools (thank you Boards of Education and Finance, as well as the Representative Town Meeting).  Parents are active, engaged and involved (in some instances maybe too much so!) in their children’s education. 

There are organizations, such as the PTO’s, Darien Technology and Capital Foundation, Reiss and Barbara Harrington Funds and Blue Wave Pride, along with the local business community, which provide additional resources to enhance and enrich our school environment.

Most importantly we have our administrators, staff and teachers.  They care about our students, nurture a love of learning, challenge them to stretch academically, offer encouragement and support and go out of their way to make learning and school a fun and safe place. 

As a result, the majority of our students demonstrate gains in performance year over year.  They earn acceptance to competitive colleges and universities.  They understand and appreciate the value and importance of an education.  They are kind, caring and intellectually curious, attributes they carry forward with them into adulthood.

We have really good teachers.  And the importance of this cannot be emphasized enough.

Recently, the New York Times reported on a landmark study conducted by economists from Harvard and Columbia that tracked 2.5 million students over 20 years.  The depth of the data allowed for a much deeper examination of how teacher quality affects students over the long-term. 

The results showed that teachers who help raise student achievement had a wide-ranging and lasting positive effect on their students’ lives, as these students were more likely to attend college and to earn more as adults. 

I think I speak for all parents when I say I’m counting on the “attend college” and “earn more as adults” benefits of having good teachers.  So thank you Darien teachers, administrators and staff!