I have spent much time in room 56 at Hobart Boulevard Elementary School in Los Angeles, where fifth grade teacher Rafe Esquith has proved himself to be, in my view, the best classroom teacher in the country, and certainly in his city.

When the Los Angeles Times announced it was releasing its analysis of how much value each one of 6,000 L.A. elementary school teachers had added to their classes, based on test scores, I knew how to test the validity of their project. I have spent much time in room 56 at Hobart Boulevard Elementary School in L.A., where fifth-grade teacher Rafe Esquith has proved himself to be, in my view, the best classroom teacher in the country — and certainly in his city.

Would the Times data back up Esquith’s exceptional quality, obvious to the thousands of people who have visited his classroom and to the audiences who see his ethnic Hispanic and Korean 10-year-olds produce and perform a Shakespeare play each year?

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/class-struggle/2010/08/americas_best_teacher_and_the.html