As a student, a parent, and a teacher, I have always believed that excellent teaching matters more than anything else that happens in a school.  It is so inspiring to be in the presence of an amazing teacher.  I love watching a teacher light up about a subject, I love watching teachers push students to do the hard thinking for themselves, and I love watching and learning from the individual style of each teacher. It is teachers who make a school great.

My favorite book in graduate school was Ken Macrorie’s The Vulnerable Teacher. Macrorie describes a teacher who taught “by love more than anything else. He was so much in love with English literature and with being a teacher.  Everyone worked for him to the maximum of his capacity. One couldn't let him down.”

Schools need teachers who teach “by love” – for their subject, for their students, for the sacred work of shaping minds.  But teachers can only flourish in schools that take teaching very seriously – schools that respect and support them.

When we began Harlem Village Academies, we did not start with a “school design” to be imposed on teachers; rather we set out to thoughtfully design a school for teachers.  We designed every aspect of our schools to nurture and develop teachers, to support their best work, and to challenge them to keep getting better. We deliberately set out to create a rich intellectual life and an ideal environment for teachers where they are trusted as professionals: empowered to make critical decisions regarding pedagogical methods and curriculum materials, and held accountable for achieving clear standards. We are always looking for ways to reduce administrative tasks for teachers. We do have a longer school day, but we try to keep our hours as reasonable as possible, because we don't want our teachers to burn out.

I see teachers as scholars, and I believe it is essential for schools to provide teachers with opportunities to collaborate, to learn from each other, to talk deeply with each other – about instruction, about students, and about how we can continually improve our schools. The best of what we've accomplished has been created by our teachers. We want them to fall in love with teaching again and again each year.

Dr. Deborah Kenny was the founding principal of Harlem Village Academy. She is the Chief Executive Officer of Harlem Village Academies Network.