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A 2025 National “Teacher of the Year” recipient said on Friday that the profession is “deeply political.”
“Who am I if I’m not teaching? What happens if I walk away? But then something shifted. Because while the world was spinning, my local was centering. They fought for COVID sick banks, one-to-one laptops, robust contact tracing, and the grace we all deserved as we navigated the unknown. For our members, they became the leaders we needed,” said Ashlie Crosson, a high school English teacher, during the annual National Education Association (NEA) Representative Assembly meeting.
“But for me, they became my solid ground. And that solid ground became a launching pad. Once I started paying attention, once I realized how deeply political our profession had always been,” Crosson said.
The Pennsylvania native attended her first statewide union event in January 2024, where she met NEA President Becky Pringle. In March, Crosson attended the National Education Association National Leadership Summit in Detroit.
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Crosson shared that she encountered a “different NEA,” one where she sensed a “burden” of what could happen in the future.
“It’s difficult to feel any sense of assurance when the best path forward has become a moving target. But amidst the unknown, I’m confident we can find comfort and resilience in what we do know. And what we know is this, respect doesn’t begin with a soundbite or a promise. It begins with us and how we show up and how we raise our voices and how we refuse to accept anything less than what our students and our colleagues deserve,” she said.
With over three million members, the NEA is the largest teachers’ union in the country. Crosson, a teacher at Mifflin County High School in Lewistown, Pennsylvania, spoke to thousands of delegates at their 2025 Representative Assembly in Portland, Oregon.
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Crosson, who teaches in a rural community, explained that a lot had changed since she realized how political her profession had become two years ago. The teacher cited struggles students faced during the coronavirus pandemic when internet companies refused to provide service to students in rural areas, “valuing profit over accessibility.”
“I stand for Jaden and Gavin and Luce, who needed a support system more than they needed a student handbook. I stand here for my sister Sydney, born in Vietnam and raised in Central Pennsylvania. In her 16 years of education, she never had a teacher who looked like her,” said Crosson.
Crosson was awarded the National “Teacher of the Year” award by the Council of Chief State School Officers in May. The Council’s National Teacher of the Year Program “identifies exceptional teachers across the country, recognizes their effective work in the classroom, engages them in a year of professional learning and amplifies their voices.”
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The National Teacher of the Year is chosen by an independent selection committee consisting of representatives of national K-12 education organizations, including the NEA and their union counterpart, the American Federation of Teachers.
The assembly is held every year to set the agenda for the union. Nearly 7,000 educators from across the country attended the event on Saturday. This year’s theme addressed the “unprecedented assault on public education nationwide,” the NEA website states.
The Council of Chief State School Officers said Crosson’s comments do not represent the views of the organization.
“CCSSO is a nonpartisan, nationwide, nonprofit organization serving public officials who head departments of elementary and secondary education in the states and territories,” a spokesperson told Fox News Digital. “Among our work, we run the National Teacher of the Year Program. The National Teacher of the Year is independently selected to bring national public attention on the importance of excellence in teaching and does not represent the views or opinions of CCSSO or the members we represent.”
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