College of Education alumna named finalist for National Teacher of Year

LEWISTOWN, Pa. — A Penn State College of Education alumna has been named a finalist for the 2025 Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) National Teacher of the Year award.

Ashlie Crosson, an English and journalism teacher at Mifflin County High School in Lewistown, Pennsylvania, who received a master’s degree in educational leadership from Penn State in 2015, is one of four teachers nationwide being considered for the honor.

This comes after she was named Pennsylvania’s Teacher of the Year in 2024 by the Pennsylvania Department of Education, beating out 11 other finalists. The finalists for the National Teacher of the Year are chosen from the cohort of those who won their state or territory’s teacher of the year award.

“I am honored and humbled to be named a finalist for National Teacher of the Year,” Crosson said. “This is such an incredible recognition — one that celebrates not just me, but the efforts of my entire community because that’s how education works. It’s a village. None of us do this job alone. I owe so much of these past two years of success and opportunity to the support, encouragement and guidance of every colleague, mentor, administrator, student and loved one who has been a part of my journey.”

She began her professional career in Delaware in 2011 before taking a job in the Bellefonte Area School District. While at Bellefonte, she obtained her master’s from Penn State and then accepted a position with the same Mifflin County School District she attended as a youth.

Crosson was initially a journalism major at Susquehanna University but decided she instead wanted to become an educator and graduated in 2011 with a bachelor’s degree in English and language arts teacher education. Now, she can meld both worlds together as she not only teaches English and journalism at Mifflin County but also helps her students print a school newspaper, manage social media accounts and publish a magazine.

She said she finds herself both grateful for the honor of being named a finalist and yet humbled that she has been so chosen out of so many other deserving educators.

“There are 3.8 million public school teachers in America, 3.8 million people who dedicate their life’s work to helping kids grow, and learn, and excel and feel safe and smart and special,” Crosson said. “Not every educator is every child’s favorite teacher — that’s not how human interaction works. But I’ve never met a teacher who didn’t care about his classroom, who didn’t love her students, who didn’t believe in the profound and beautiful future they were tasked with molding. For these reasons, I’ve struggled to share this news — because 3.8 million passionate, hardworking, selfless people are more than deserving of a title only four people get to hold each year, and beyond my wildest dreams, I am one of those four.”

The other finalists are Mikaela Saelua, a senior English and journalism teacher from Leone High School in American Samoa; Janet Renee Damon, a history teacher from Denver Public Schools in Colorado; and Jazzmyne Townsend, a K-5 English language arts instructional coach at Standon Elementary School in Washington, D.C.

The finalists will interview with the selection committee and the winner will be announced in the spring. The winner will then spend the next year serving as an ambassador and advocate for teachers and students.

Crosson said she’s ready to serve if called upon.

“As a finalist and as a member of our national cohort, I know that 2025 is going to be a transformative year of advocacy, learning and allyship,” Crosson said. “I am so excited for this year and so eager to rise to this occasion — for our kids, for our colleagues, for our country.”

CCSSO’s National Teacher of the Year Program honors exceptional teachers across the country by celebrating their work. Through a one-of-a-kind professional learning program, the National Teacher of the Year Program helps teachers amplify their instructional practices as well as their voices and empowers them to take part in policy discussions at the state and national level.