SYDNEY CHAFFEE, a 9th grade humanities teacher at a Dorchester charter school, is not just a good teacher, she is, by at least one measure, the best one in the country.
Chaffee was named National Teacher of the Year on Thursday, the first time a Massachusetts educator has won the award in the 65 years that it has been given. The award is made by the Council of Chief State School Officers.
Chaffee has taught for 10 years at the Codman Academy Charter Public School in Dorchester’s Codman Square.
In early February, she sat down with the Codcast to talk about her passion for teaching and her excitement at being recognized for her efforts and talent. At the time, she had won the Massachusetts Teacher of the Year competition and been named one of four finalists for the national award.
When asked in our conversation about the formula for great teaching, Chaffee named two chief ingredients: a passion for what you’re teaching (something she has abundance for the interdisciplinary study of history and English that is her focus) and building strong relationships with students to see them “as whole people.” She said relationship building is crucial to gaining students’ trust, which can then motivate them to take risks and go “outside of their zone.” I’m “really trying to fire them up,” she said.
Chaffee worked for Citizen Schools for two years after graduating from Sarah Lawrence College. During that time she got a master’s degree at Lesley University, and then started her career at Codman Academy.
Chaffee, who lives in Dorchester with her husband and 2-year-old daughter, is in New York City today for the award announcement. On Friday, she’ll be back in Boston.
State and city leaders will join with students and staff from Codman Academy and Chaffee’s family and friends for a celebration of the award on Friday morning at the Huntington Theater Company. Codman Academy has had a long partnership with the Huntington, where Codman students go and gain theater experience.
First of all, congratulations to Sydney Chaffee for being named National Teacher of the Year. It’s quite an honor for her to be recognized for her efforts. It’s important though to take a close look at the charter school she’s been teaching 9th graders in for the past ten years: Codman Academy Charter Public School. The Student/Family Handbook states, “The school does not accept additional students into the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth grades either for slots in the classes or for positions on the waiting list. Therefore, the school does not maintain a waiting list for the tenth through twelfth grades, and the school will not admit additional students to those classes, even if enrolled students leave the school. Further, no sibling exceptions will be made to this rule for tenth through twelfth grade students.” What’s interesting about that policy is Codman loses a lot of students in grades 10, 11 and 12 but those empty seats aren’t filled. Specifically, the 32 students in 12th grade in 2017 started out in 2014 with 51 students in grade 9 for a loss of 19 students or 37%. Last year’s 12th grade class lost even more students by starting out in grade 9 in 2013 with 46 classmates but then by 2016 grade 12 had only 19 students or 27 fewer students…59% of those students went somewhere…who knows where? So it’s nice to shower some well deserved praise on a really great teacher but it’s important to understand the charter school sheds too many students over the grades and is unwilling to fill those seats.