Our current news cycle often includes challenges and complexities faced by schools: mergers and consolidations, budget shortfalls, and achievement gaps. While these are real and consequential, they do not tell the whole story.  Every year at the Upper Valley Educators Institute, individuals join us to become teachers, principals, and literacy specialists. We visit many educators in their schools and witness countless moments of inspiration, joy, and hope that take place in their classrooms, hallways, offices, and other community locations. Drawing on what we’ve seen this past year, we have a few short headlines to add to the news cycle, with the goal of celebrating and inspiring the work of all educators in their classroom and school communities.   Inspiration: A School Leader Prioritizes Trust and Collaboration Heather Win and UVEI Faculty Member Elijah Hawkes. Photo taken by BHS student Rachelle Heather Win, who completed UVEI’s Vermont principal licensure program in 2024, embodies relationship-building as a school leader. This has manifested itself in her lasting relationships with members of her UVEI cohort, her UVEI action research project (focused on the impact of collegial relationships in schools), and her current work as the assistant principal of Burlington High School. The school is temporarily located in a former department store, but what Heather sells to her colleagues is an opportunity to be seen, to be valued, and to engage together in designing solutions to the school’s challenges. At UVEI, we teach school leaders that “relational trust” is always an important part of school improvement, and Heather provides us with a model of what that can look like in the day-to-day life of a school leader. Read more about Heather here. Joy: Learning in a 5th Grade Classroom Alex (left) reflects on his learning, about teaching, with other members of the UVEI 2025-2026 teacher licensure cohort. Alex St. Martin is preparing to complete UVEI’s teacher licensure program and get licensed as an elementary teacher in New Hampshire. He is also preparing to complete his first year as a 5th grade teacher at the Indian River School in Enfield, NH. Through UVEI, Alex is deeply engaged in learning: trying out new ideas in his teaching, reflecting on how things went, and trying again. As a teacher, he inspires deep engagement in his students through immersive activities such as creating morphology games to help with reading skills, and experimenting with physical models of scientific phenomena. At UVEI, we say that student engagement leads to deeper learning – learning that is applied, that is joyful, and that lasts; and Alex’s story shows us that new and experienced teachers alike have the capacity to bring this type of learning to their classrooms. Read more about Alex’s teaching here.  Hope: Educators Come Together to Improve Literacy Instruction The literacy crisis is something that we are all – rightfully – paying attention to. But there is hope. On a Saturday in early May, over 80 teachers, school leaders, and other community members from across Vermont and New Hampshire came together for a film screening and panel discussion. Why? To plan for collective action on improving literacy instruction in schools. Research shows us viable steps we can take, and success is being seen already. Educators dedicated time on a weekend for this effort because they are deeply committed to helping kids learn to read. Adam Norwood, a UVEI faculty member who observed the event, commented that “After hearing educators’ conversations during the event and after, it is clear to me that they left feeling both hopeful and empowered.” The film used as a springboard for this discussion was “Hopeville, How to Win the Reading Wars” – for a deep dive into all things literacy related, listen to a podcast featuring Kristen Hubbell (UVEI literacy faculty member) and the Hopeville film producer. Celebration Inspiration, joy, and hope. We see it in these stories, but also in countless other places around Vermont and New Hampshire – all made possible by educators. Educators really are the essential ingredient – showing up for their students and pushing themselves, their students, and their colleagues to be the best they can be. It’s why we do the work we do at UVEI: training educators to make an impact. And now, as we close out the school year, we want to acknowledge and congratulate the educators who, through our programs, are getting ready to become licensed as teachers, school leaders, and literacy specialists. Teacher licensure cohort ‘26: Nasser Abdel-Fatah, Jack Barbeau, Nikki Boisvert, Aidan Carney, Emilie Conrad, Pam Doyle, Fiona Herson, Shane Murray-Smith, Morgan Puliafico, Alex St. Martin.Principal licensure cohort ‘26 ‘26: Jen Bisson, Nate Bisson, Melissa Bushey, Sara Duval, Kimmy Ellinwood, Brittany Galvin, Robert Gervais, Liz Lambert, Mallory Langkau, Lanni Luce West, Emily Marshia, Ross Momaney, Sara Parrotto, Nick Sullivan.Literacy licensure cohort ‘26: Becky Hawkes, Wanda Vaughan. The Upper Valley Educators Institute is a graduate school of education. We partner with school communities to engage, inspire, and challenge educators, developing their ability to make classrooms and schools places where all people belong and thrive. Are you interested in education, or already an educator? Join UVEI to become a teacher, become a principal, earn a masters degree, engage in professional development, or pursue a school or district partnership. UVEI is located in Lebanon, NH and serves educators across Vermont and New Hampshire with programs and partnerships that emphasize collaboration, relationships, continuous improvement, growth, and self-reflection. Find us at uvei.edu. Read the story on VTDigger here: Education beyond the headlines. ...read more read less