National Conversations about Teaching: The RESPECT Project | U.S. Department of Education.

All across the country, teachers are talking with the U.S. Department of Education (ED) about how they envision a renewed and transformed teaching profession in the 21st Century. This page is designed for educators who are interested in participating in a National Conversation about the Teaching Profession and giving ED their feedback to inform future policy and programs, including a possible competition to transform teaching, which we are calling the RESPECT Project.

Certified teachers conduct Carver’s afterschool programs within Norwalk Public Schools. They are the heartbeat of all that happens there. They know the Carver students and more importantly they care about their daily success.

Stories abound of shy students becoming engaged and failing students rising to the top of their class, all because of the academic excellence and safe social environment the teachers offer our youth in the after school hours.

One of our teachers told me last Friday that some of his students who have autism spectrum disorder love our afterschool program because they feel accepted and “normal” there. Roughly 1 in 88 youth are being found to have this condition, according to a study released last Thursday morning by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The new figure reflects a 23 percent increase compared with the autism rate the public health agency released two years ago.

As much as Carver is needed and appreciated, our teachers are all the more. They are too often the hidden heroes among our many Carver Heroes.