A few weeks ago, one of our local newspapers carried the banner
headline "Burbank Scores Soar" referring to the great increase in test
scores in most of the schools of the Burbank Unified School District. It
would have been very fitting and accurate if the next banner headline had
read "Thank you Burbank Teachers!" because -- without overlooking all the
others who also work long and hard to improve the education we deliver --
it is, ultimately, what the teacher does in the classroom that makes the
