Listen 4 min

       Share

       Comment on this story Comment

       Beth Barkley thought she was attending a ceremony for International Day of the Girl on Wednesday. The high school English teacher stood in the library at Cardozo Education Campus as the city’s mayor explained the importance of attaining “educational equity across genders.”

       Fast, informative and written just for locals. Get The 7 DMV newsletter in your inbox every weekday morning. ArrowRight

       But, in a ceremony focused mostly on her, Barkley learned that she had been named D.C’s 2024 Teacher of the Year.

       “This year we have a teacher of the year who serves as a role model not only for her students, but for other teachers across the District,” said D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D). “She has gone above and beyond her normal teaching duties to uplift student voices and inspire her students.”

       Each year, educators across the city vie for the top honor, which comes with a $7,500 check and the chance to compete for National Teacher of the Year in a contest run by the Council of Chief State School Officers. Barkley, who teaches English and other classes to students who are new to the United States, was met with applause and sparkling pompoms wielded by students.

       Advertisement

       “This is a huge honor,” she said to the room of teachers, staff members and several of her students. “I have students that are changemakers. My students are leaders. … This is really for and because of them.”

       Before coming to Cardozo, Barkley taught fourth- through ninth-grade English and Spanish literacy for adults in El Salvador. In 2014, she received an invitation from Cardozo’s new International Academy, which would focus on the needs of a growing population of students who had recently immigrated.

       D.C. schools expected to enroll migrant children

       “When I first started, most of my students were from El Salvador, so that was kind of the perfect transition back” to her home country, she said. Over the years, more students have come from Guatemala and Honduras, as well as Laos, Vietnam and Cameroon. She has taught some of the children whom red-state governors loaded onto buses from near the southern border.

       Advertisement

       Many of Barkley’s students arrive in her classroom with specific challenges. Some have been separated from their families. Others are in the country for the first time and have had gaps in formal schooling. They come with trauma from their home countries. Barkley has been a “steward, a guide, a light, a force for their journey” into the U.S. education system, said Christina Grant, D.C.’s state superintendent of education.

       Share this article Share

       Since her arrival during the 2014-2015 school year, Barkley has taught “hundreds” of immigrant students, she said. In addition to English, she also teaches a class on human rights and social action.

       “It’s just really inspiring for me to see students that came here — not only the language, but it’s a whole new place — and then to watch them advocate for themselves and their communities, and to be lead organizers and changemakers in our community. And doing and saying all that in a new language is — it’s so inspiring,” Barkley said. “I like seeing them feeling empowered like that, to know that they belong here.”

       Advertisement

       Outside the classroom, Barkley has hosted social identity workshops and helped young people campaign for immigrant access to mental health resources.

       “We don’t have mental health providers for our undocumented youth,” she said. “We need more bilingual service providers.”

       P.E. teacher Jermar Rountree named 2023 D.C. Teacher of the Year

       Students at the ceremony remarked on Barkley’s kindness and support. Wedad Yassin, the school’s assistant principal of instruction for English language learners, said in Barkley’s nomination that her leadership “has been instrumental in nurturing a positive school culture and a nationally recognized program for newly arrived immigrant students.”

       In addition to the $7,500 prize — which Barkley said is for her students — she will get $5,000 to travel to national conferences and workshops during her year-long term as teacher of the year.

       D.C.’s Office of the State Superintendent of Education also named four award finalists: Chad Harris, who teaches music at Stanton Elementary School; Kena Allison, a biology teacher at Washington Latin Public Charter School; Rabiah Harris, who teaches physical science and robotics at Ida B. Wells Middle School; and Aneesah Blount, a kindergarten teacher at Van Ness Elementary School.

       Share

       Comments

       Loading...

       View more