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Music Teacher is America's Best

Posted on: Wednesday, 25 April 2007, 06:00 CDT

By Greg Toppo

WASHINGTON -- As a high schooler who liked math and science, Andrea Peterson was sure she was destined to be a doctor -- until she visited her two brothers, who were at college studying music education.

"After a week of that," she says, "I realized, 'Wow, you can really have fun in your college classes.'"

So after graduating cum laude from the University of Washington in 1996 with a double degree in music and music education, she took a job teaching music in rural Granite Falls, Wash. She spent the next decade working to revitalize music programs at the elementary and high school levels.

Today, Peterson is the 2007 National Teacher of the Year. She'll shake hands with President Bush on Thursday and spend a year traveling and speaking on behalf of the program, a project of the Council of Chief State School Officers.

Peterson's selection is a victory for advocates of traditional teacher certification -- she is the second National Board Certified teacher in a row to become Teacher of the Year, and the fourth in seven years.

But while she defends her profession fiercely, like most honorees, Peterson, 33, isn't afraid to point out where it needs improvement. "I am in favor of demanding more rigor from our students," she says.

She believes that President Bush's No Child Left Behind education reform law has "increased the rigor" in schools by forcing educators to take basic skills more seriously. Though that's forcing many schools to whittle away at their music programs -- her school is struggling to meet federal goals in reading and math -- she says music can help struggling students build confidence and show off their skills.

"I'm not going to be the music teacher who says No Child Left Behind is killing my program," she says.

Her program enjoys considerable local support -- she and a group of parents, colleagues and community leaders raise thousands of dollars each year for instruments and material. That allows Granite Falls to create three choirs, a jazz band, a marching band, an African drum ensemble and a marimba ensemble. (c) Copyright 2005 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

Source: USA TODAY

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