This presentation was an invited address at the opening session of the 2021 Annual Conference for the Advancement of Science Teaching (CAST) in Ft. Worth, Texas. The presentation will investigate student achievement using three perspectives. The presenters will first ask if one could recognize a great teacher. They will then report research showing expert judges were unable to identify successful teachers defined in terms of the teachers' achievement gains on standardized tests. Furthermore, the accuracy of the judges was significantly lower than would have been produced by chance (flipping a coin). The presenters will then examine the general research literature to shed more light on what will really increase student achievement. In the second perspective, the presenters will shift focus and ask how the rapid development of the United States from raw wilderness-and-frontier to the leading nation in the world was made possible. At first glance, the largely illiterate immigrants would hardly seem to have been the material from which to build a complex society. However, the presenters contend the chief element underlying this success was the democratic faith in the American common school (public school). But many do not see education in this context. Critics have often labelled schools as "failure factories" using industrial-age management. What then will be best for teachers and student achievement: the public schools, charter schools, a combination of both public-and-charter schools, an AI solution or a combination of all four? AI will eventually be able to craft education for every student in the United States. It can teach classes, assign work, grade all the assignments and then post grades for all the millions of students. This could be one of the greatest inventions for education and student achievement in history. But what would be the role of the teacher? In this third perspective, the presenters will contend that public schools, not machines, are the fundamental social organizations where teaching and student achievement are nurtured by teachers and student relationships. Teachers are the "back bones" of education. Dr. William Johnson has written a memoir of "My Mother, My Teacher". His mother said that sometimes in life one was fortunate to be a part of something great. Although accepted to medical school after graduating from college, she said teaching was her great love. That's why she was a public-school teacher all her professional career. Dr. Johnson will then share his mother's visions of teaching and student achievement made possible by America's teachers and the public schools.