National Teachers Hall of Fame to induct Valerie Camile Jones Ford
June 17, 2025
By Elijah Qualls
AFRO Intern
Valerie Camille Jones Ford, an award-winning mathematics teacher at Ron Clark Academy (RCA) in Atlanta and Spelman College alumna will be inducted into the National Teachers Hall of Fame (NTHF) class of 2025 on June 20.
The inductees are notorious for going the extra mile for their students. The selection process is extensive, requiring nominees to have 20 years of experience, submit essays and recommendation letters, and participate in interviews. To be nominated and inducted is an incredible feat, one that only 165 educators since 1992 have accomplished.
Jones Ford will be the second educator from Atlanta to receive this honor, the fourth from Georgia, and the eighth Black woman to ever be inducted.
“[It’s] both humbling and deeply affirming,” Dr. Jones Ford said. “It’s the kind of recognition that doesn’t just celebrate the work I’ve done, but the students who trust me with their stories, their doubts, their dreams– all of it.”
The longtime mathematics educator has been teaching at RCA for 15 years and has over 25 years of teaching experience. She received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching, along with being recognized by former President Barack Obama and the late Congressman John Lewis for her work in educating Black students and instilling expectations of excellence in her classrooms.
Jones Ford graduated from a top ranking HBCU in the United States, Spelman College, located in Atlanta. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics, then earned her master’s in math education from Georgia State University, and a doctorate in mathematics Education at Columbia University. Her dissertation, titled “The Effect of Computer Gaming on Student Motivation,” is a project she still applies in her classrooms today.
Her unorthodox use of video games and advanced software such as Timez Attack, Dimension U, and Prisms VR strengthens students’ efficacy in math while also encouraging friendly class competition. A concept is best known as edutainment.
“The math is real world combinations with fractions: equivalent fractions, adding fractions and putting them in lowest terms. It’s so rich, but it’s interactive,” Jones Ford said.
Aside from RCA’s immersive edutainment infrastructure, the predominantly Black school also hosts weekly schoolwide meetings with fourth- through eighth-graders to discuss current events. This keeps the students educated on politics but more importantly prepared to combat an oppressive system. Jones Ford describes those meetings as the highlight of her week. Black-oriented institutions like Ron Clark Academy and Spelman College are preparing future Black leaders for the real world. Jones Ford emphasized the necessity of Black educators but said it starts with a general respect for the profession.
“We must start by affirming the value and dignity of the teaching profession,” she said. “Teaching is not just noble, but revolutionary. By creating pathways that honor Black identity and purpose and education, we can build a whole new generation of educators that are ready to inspire, to lead, to transform.”
