Sloan Teaching Awards

I spent the bulk of today with a group of scientists and mathematicians assembled by the Fund for the City of New York to present awards to outstanding public school math and science teachers. The program, which is the brainchild of Mary McCormick, with support from her partners at the Alfred Sloan Foundation, is elegant in its simplicity: honor the truly unsung with cash prizes and public acclaim. Today I spent time with three of the seven winners (I think they wanted a token liberal arts major along for the ride). It would take a hard-hearted person indeed not to be moved by the winning teachers and their palpable commitment to their students. I left feeling enormously lucky to live in New York City and optimistic about the future of our schools.