Educator Recognition Programs
2012 Virginia Teacher of the Year – Margaret A. "Meg" Smith.
Meg Smith is an eighth-grade English literature teacher at Paul Laurence Dunbar Middle School for Innovation in Lynchburg.
Virginia Teacher of the Year Program
All public and accredited nonpublic schools are invited to participate in the 2011 Mary V. Bicouvaris Virginia Teacher of the Year Program to select the next Virginia Teacher of the Year and to honor teachers who represent the best in teaching in the Commonwealth of Virginia and the nation.
For more than 40 years, Virginia has participated in the National Teacher of the Year Program, a project of the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO). At its meeting on April 24, 2006, the Advisory Board on Teacher Education and Licensure (ABTEL) named the program in honor of the 1989 Virginia and National Teacher of the Year, Mary V. Bicouvaris.
The program is open to all teachers in pre-kindergarten through grade 12 who possess a current, renewable Virginia teaching license, including school librarians, guidance counselors, and reading specialists. Teachers must be employed in a Virginia public or accredited nonpublic school. Candidates should be dedicated, knowledgeable and skilled.
The Milken Family Foundation Educator Awards Program
The Milken Family Foundation National Educator Awards are designed to reward elementary and secondary school teachers, principals and administrators who promote excellence and innovation in public education.
The 2010 Milken Educator Award recipients are Joel Christopher Robins, a fifth-grade teacher at Deep Creek Elementary School in Chesapeake, and Sean Patrick Griffin, a fifth-grade teacher at Belmont Station Elementary School in Loudoun County.
National Teacher Recognition Programs
Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching – The Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST) is the highest recognition that a kindergarten through 12th-grade mathematics or science teacher may receive for outstanding teaching in the United States.
National History Teacher of the Year Award – Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, the History Channel and Preserve America present this award annually to an exceptional Virginia American history teacher. The Virginia teacher – along with finalists from other states – is in the running for recognition as the National History Teacher of the Year.
- News Release, Oct. 18, 2011– Virginia Educator Earns National History Award
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