TRACEY BAILEY

Tracey Bailey has joined the other distinguished educators on the AAE Advisory Board. Mr. Bailey was chosen from among 2.7 million elementary and secondary school teachers in the nation to be honored as the 1993 National Teacher of the Year. He received the traditional Crystal Apple at the White House ceremony presided over by President Clinton and Secretary of Education Richard Riley.

As a Florida high school science instructor, who had been teaching for only seven years, Mr. Bailey and his students won state-wide and national recognition for his highly regarded and innovative science programs. "I am thrilled that my classes reached more than just high ability students and helped all students become excited about science and about learning!" says Bailey. "I am a firm believer that nearly every student will rise to the level of expectations placed on her or him, and my students continue to confirm this."

Innovation and the use of technology became the hallmark of his career. A crusader against rote, boring “chalk-talk-and-ditto-sheet” lessons, he instead developed hands-on projects where his students designed their own computer network systems and built their own DNA finger-printing equipment. Mr. Bailey’s students even built their own “outside lecture patio” behind the science building by pouring concrete slabs, landscaping the entire area, and putting in the necessary irrigation systems. “These projects are a great combination of biology, chemistry, and physics,” says Bailey. “And BioChemPhysics is fun!”

Bailey says that in the heart of every teenager is a void, a search for something worthy of commitment. His job is to help them find it!

Mr. Bailey is currently serving as the State Director for Virginia Professional Educators.