prestigious Milken National Educator Award last month, it came as a complete surprise. "It made me feel tremendously humble and blessed and just in awe," Baddeley said from her home last week. "You realize how important the profession is."
The Milken Family Foundation - a nonprofit organization supporting education and medical research - bestows 82 such annual awards nationwide, alternating each year between elementary and secondary school teachers. Baddeley was one of only two educators in Washington state to receive this year's award, which comes with an unrestricted cash stipend of $25,000.
Baddeley, who earned her teaching degree at Western Washington University, officially received her award April 22 at the foundation's annual national education conference, a black-tie affair referred to by Teacher Magazine as the "Oscars of Teaching." Held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles, Calif., the 2007 conference addressed the theme of education in a global economy and involved the participation of 16 past recipients of the award, known as Milken Educators.
TEACHING'S TOP HONOR
According to Jana Rausch, who heads up the Milken Family Foundation's media and public affairs department, the educator award was created in 1987 "to celebrate, elevate and activate the American teaching profession." The idea, Rausch said, is to recognize a promise of excellence in early- to mid-career educators, in order to encourage talented young teachers to remain in the profession.
"It's not a lifetime achievement award," she said. "It's a way to publicly recognize talented teachers, and also to encourage young people to join the teaching profession."
The results on this front have been largely positive, Rausch said. "The majority of Milken Educators stay in the education profession at some local, state or federal committee level," she pointed out, adding that the award - the largest teacher recognition program in the United States - not only attracts people to the profession but also "opens doors" for educators seeking to have a more powerful voice "in shaping education in both their community and beyond."
Baddeley said that attending the conference helped her realize that education does not happen in a vacuum, but rather that all teachers are connected in a far-flung project of giving the future movers and shakers of this country a well-rounded education.
"After the conference, it really gave me a sense of something bigger than myself," she said. "It's easy, when you're teaching, to get closed off, but when you win an award like this it really makes you aware of the national and the global importance of education.
"It's so important that I don't just see myself as a Seattle educator," Baddeley said, referring to how many of her students will strike out from the Northwest for other parts of the world and that the quality of their education could have national or global consequences.
To this end, the foundation places a high level of importance on the "Milken educator network" created among past and present award winners; at 2,200 teachers strong, Rausch said, "it is a network throughout the country so that these educators can constantly be in touch" to discuss myriad issues confronting teachers in this country.
"The goal of the foundation is to attract, develop, motivate and retain high quality teachers," she reiterated.
There is no formal nomination or application procedure for selecting recipients of the Milken award. Rather, a blue-ribbon panel - appointed by the departments of education in participating states - recommends a candidate for selection, after which the teacher is tracked for a year. The whole process is highly confidential; Rausch said she doesn't know anyone involved in her being selected for the award.
"We look for strong instructional leaders who make a dramatic difference in student achievement," Rausch said of the criteria for selecting the award winners. "We look for leadership beyond the classroom. We look for educators who have engaging presence that can really serve as a model for the nation."
A FOCUSED GIRL
Baddeley said she knew she wanted to be a teacher every since she was a child. "I wanted to be a teacher from second grade," she said, adding that it was the excellence of her classroom instructor that inspired her.
"It's been a lifelong dream," she added. "I've always loved children. I pretty much didn't have any other desire."
At WWU, Baddeley contemplated becoming a child psychologist, and took classes toward that end. Although she didn't pursue this particular road, she said her studies have helped her "tremendously" as a teacher.
"It taught me a lot about people in general, but a lot about children, too - how to teach them and how to meet their needs," Baddeley said.
At first Baddeley thought she wanted to teach at the high-school level. After doing some research, however, she realized that the younger grades - what she calls "the building years" - are important in a student's future development.
"I really feel like I had a calling for fourth grade," she said.
Baddeley's been at Thurgood Marshall since she entered the profession five years ago. She began by teaching fourth grade; last year she taught a combined fourth- and fifth-grade classroom; this year her focus has been fifth grade (though she is currently on maternity leave).
Baddeley said what inspires her and keeps her going as a teacher is her faith that every student has the ability to better herself through education, to strive for and reach a set of academic goals.
"I'd say that what really drives my teaching is that I believe every child is capable, regardless of situation," she explained. "It's important to make children feel important."
As for receiving the Milken award, Baddeley said she was "just in the right place at the right time," and that she considers her honor to extend to every member of the Thurgood Marshall staff.
"There are so many teachers every day working so hard," she said.
She also credits her students for her own achievements.
"I love my kids," Baddeley said. "I feel very inspired by them. If they can do it, there isn't any reason I can't get up and do it, too."
WHAT GOES INTO PICKING AN AWARD WINNING TEACHER
The criteria for the Milken Educator Award are as follows:
■ Exceptional educational talent as evidenced by effective instructional practices and student learning results in the classroom and school;
■ Exemplary educational accomplishments beyond the classroom that provide models of excellence for the profession;
■ Strong long-range potential for professional and policy leadership, and;
■ Engaging and inspiring presence that motivates and impacts students, colleagues and the community.
Staff writer Rick Levin may be reached via mageditor@nwlink.com.[[In-content Ad]]
