“Teaching is a part of my life,” says Emily Olobatuyi, who has been teaching for 38 years, the last 14 of which have been spent at DCPS. She started her career as an elementary school teacher in Nigeria, then spent a decade working at a structured day care center before joining the district. She holds her students to high expectations, striving to make sure that all of them meet their goals by the end of the school year. Mrs. Olobatuyi offers rewards for every small achievement in order to encourage her students to continue making progress. Her classroom thrives on mutual respect. “I request that my students respect me and I respect them as well,” she explains.

Mrs. Olobatuyi devotes hours after school every day to helping her weaker students. In particular, she remembers a student who did not participate in an after-school program and did not have anyone at home to help him with homework. “I asked for his mother’s permission to let him stay with me after school for help,” she recalls. “Sometimes, a teacher must take a role that is absent in a child’s life.” Mrs. Olobatuyi has received avid praise, particularly from the former principal of Leckie, Jermall Wright. “She is driven solely by the needs of her students, and is a living example of what’s possible when high expectations influence beliefs and classroom practices,” he says, pointing to Mrs. Olobatuyi’s IVA ratings, consistently the highest of any teacher at Leckie. “If every teacher were like Mrs. Olobatuyi, DCPS would be the first school district to eliminate the achievement gap.”