Schools

Larry Cuban -When Martha Strever began teaching 63 years ago, the home computer did not exist and the first human had yet to walk on the moon.There were 23 amendments to the constitution instead of the current 27, John F. Kennedy was president, and the civil rights March on Washington had not happened.A lot has changed since 1961. But one constant is Linden Avenue Middle School’s math teacher.

Strever, now in her mid-80s, has been a fixture at the Red Hook, N.Y., school in the intervening 63 years, teaching thousands of students math—in some cases three generations of students from the same family—while navigating momentous changes in both the world around her and the education profession.  “I never could have imagined when I started some of the things we’d see and do in my career,” Strever said. “It has certainly been interesting.”

On Sept. 4, she began her 64th year of teaching, an incredible feat as districts contend with high levels of teacher burnout and turnover, with more than 40 percent of teachers leaving the profession in their first five years.