Her Story
Kim Bearden is cofounder, executive director and language arts teacher at the Ron Clark Academy in Atlanta, an innovative middle school and educator training center. She and Ron Clark opened it in a century-old abandoned factory. Over nine years, more than 33,000 superintendents, administrators and teachers from 42 states and 22 countries have visited to watch her classroom. In her words, “the title I hold most dear is that of teacher,” and “despite my varied roles, I have always remained in the classroom.”
She transforms her classroom into a different world for each lesson. Students entered a fog-filled alien spaceship to write descriptive journals for “Commander Bearden” of NASA, ate at a Chinese restaurant called the “House of Ing” to learn gerunds, and operated on grammarians who had lost their parts of speech at the Bearden Emergency Medical Center. Other days brought a construction zone where they built paragraphs from wooden blocks, “Camp Sharastorie,” a beach, a pirate ship, a Survivor challenge, Grammar Boot Camp and the All-Star Punctuation Bowl.
Students take the Stanford 10 and the SSAT, and her classes typically see double percentile increases. The first four graduating classes at RCA won more than $5 million in scholarships to top high schools in Georgia and beyond. Many arrived well below the national average. She calls her major tests a “celebration of acquired knowledge.”
Beyond the Classroom
Bearden was the Disney American Teacher Awards Outstanding Middle School Humanities Teacher in 2000. She trains educators and gives keynote speeches across the country and around the world, including in China and at the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa. Her book Crash Course: The Life Lessons My Students Taught Me was published by Simon & Schuster in 2014, and she hosts weekly Periscope sessions with educators.
She has been a teacher, curriculum director, middle school principal, learner support strategist and professional development trainer. Her lessons have been used by classrooms across the country, and she has been featured on CNN, FOX News, MSNBC, ABC World News Tonight and the CBS Evening News. A visiting special education teacher says watching her classroom and hearing her story changed her outlook on teaching.
Philosophy Into Practice
Bearden believes the type of school matters less than who is in the building: “It is the teachers who make the difference; they set the tone, and they have the power to change lives.” She thinks preparing and keeping master teachers is education’s greatest challenge, and that most teachers have never seen what excellence looks like, which is why RCA opens its doors to visitors, in classes of up to 37 students of all academic levels.
She believes the way to inspire teachers is to share her own experience of resilience and to help them find purpose again. “I teach them that they are not defined by what happens to them; it is what happens through them that matters.” For students, she says, “I don’t just see who they are; I believe in what they can become.”
“When I look at my children, I don’t just see who they are; I believe in what they can become.”Kim Bearden
In Her Own Words
“Teaching is not just what I do; it is the essence of who I am.”Kim Bearden
“It is the teachers who make the difference; they set the tone, and they have the power to change lives.”Kim Bearden
“I have proven that the curriculum standards can be taught in a way that reinforces academic rigor while making learning an adventure.”Kim Bearden
What Others Said
“Kim has devoted her life to teaching and uplifting both children and educators from around the world.”Ron Clark, nominator, cofounder and principal, Ron Clark Academy
“Without Kim’s passion, hard work, and dedication, our school would not be a reality.”Ron Clark, cofounder and principal, Ron Clark Academy
“To say that Kim Bearden has made a significant impact on education would be a huge understatement.”Jodie McNally, special education teacher
“Never have I met a woman that pulls in everyone around her with such sincere warmth and kindness.”Ahjanae Colson, former student