News Release

National Teacher of the Year
Urges Educators to Meet New Challenges

D.C. Math Teacher Fights to Level
Playing Field for Disadvantaged Students

LOS ANGELES -- Jason Kamras, a Harvard graduate whose commitment to equality led to eight years of teaching in the District of Columbia public schools, told more than 8,000 educators that “we must focus our efforts around the unwavering belief that all children, regardless of background, can and must achieve at the highest levels.”

Kamras works diligently at John Philip Sousa Middle School in Washington, D.C., to raise math achievement.  He successfully lobbied his principal to double the instructional time allotted for the subject and redesigned the math curriculum to emphasize the increasing use of technology, meet all learning styles, and provide instruction with a real-world context.

Kamras, the 2005 National Teacher of the Year, addressed the National Education Association (NEA) Representative Assembly and told the delegates that the greatest social injustice facing America today is economically disadvantaged students' limited access to well-funded, high quality schools.

"We have an obligation to make a simple but powerful commitment to our children," Kamras said.  "We must promise them that the opportunity to pursue their dreams will be constrained only by the limits of their imagination, and never by their zip code."

Kamras, a photography buff, also runs the EXPOSE Program, which teaches students to use digital cameras as well as image-editing and DVD-creation software. 

The students produce photo essays about their lives and their communities.  Students share these photo essays with the larger community through public exhibits.  Kamras also leads photo field trips to a diverse array of neighborhoods, historical sites and outdoor treasures throughout the nation's capital.

The National Teacher of the Year is a project of the Council of Chief State School Officers and is sponsored by Scholastic Inc.  The winner is chosen from among the State Teachers of the Year by a committee of representatives from 14 national education organizations.

July 6, 2005

Contact:

Melinda Anderson
NEA Public Relations (202) 822-7200

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The National Education Association is the nation’s largest professional employee organization, representing more than 2.7 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support professionals, school administrators, retired educators, and students preparing to become teachers.