A Kansas early educator was named 2020 Teacher of the Year last May, when most of us were paying attention to the pandemic instead. So it's worth revisiting the news that Tabatha Rosproy is the first Pre-K teacher to earn this honor in the 68 years the program has been in existence. (It's run by the Council of Chief State School Officers, or CCSSO.) 

"Because Pre-K isn't mandated by any state or fully funded by any state, early educators have struggled to get the same legitimacy [as K-12]," she told The Teacher Education Podcast in a Septembert 29 interview. 

As she spends this year representing early educators, Rosproy hopes to highlight the importance of social-emotional learning (SEL). "It's just as important to teach about self-regulation as it is to teach the ABCs," she says. "The ability to do that is a huge indicator of success in the classroom."

Rosproy has an unusual window on children's emotional development; her publicly funded Pre-K classroom is located in a retirement community. "They built the classroom and we supply everything inside--it's a win-win." The community's volunteer "grandmas and grandpas" read to the children one-to-one every day, which has fast-tracked their academic progress, and also go on field trips and play with the children. "They're part of the fabric of the classroom, which not only builds children's empathy, but allows me to work with smaller groups of students." Click here to listen to the interview.