Want to show teachers appreciation? This top school gives them more freedom

A top Florida public school attributes its students’ high test scores to the creativity its teachers are allowed in the classroom. Nationally, most teachers report feeling stressed and overwhelmed at work, according to a Pew Research Center survey of teachers last fall. Waning job satisfaction has accompanied a decline in teachers’ sense of autonomy, according to another recent study. But at A.D. Henderson School in Boca Raton, teachers there are expected to be creative, and it works. They’ve created classes that teach medicine, aeronautics and robotics. Art is used to reinforce science lessons, and a teacher plans to add an equine medicine course next fall.