Teachers of the Year

The Texas Teacher of the Year program began in 1969 with the purpose of recognizing and celebrating excellence in the teaching profession. Since 1988, Texas has recognized two categories for Teacher of the Year: elementary and secondary. Region 4 Education Service Center (Region 4) began the Region 4 Teachers of the Year celebration in the 1989–1990 school year. That year there were 18 districts participating and 21 teachers nominated. This year there are 47 districts and 92 teachers nominated. Since 1973, Region 4 has had 15 Texas Teachers of the Year.

 

All districts and charters are invited to participate in the Teacher of the Year program. Teachers nominated by their districts advance to a regional selection process facilitated by their education service center. From these district nominees, judges in each of the 20 regions select an elementary and a secondary Regional Teacher of the Year. From the 40 Regional Teachers of the Year, elementary and secondary finalists are selected for Texas Teacher of the Year and are interviewed by a panel of judges. The panel selects the two Texas Teachers of the Year (one elementary and one secondary) and designates one to represent Texas in the National Teacher of the Year program.

 

The judging process for Region 4 Teachers of the Year is designed to provide complete anonymity of the nominees. After removing all personally identifiable references from the application, a number is assigned to each nominee’s packet, and several judges score each packet individually. Scores are then tallied, and the nominees with the highest-scoring applications in each category become finalists. These finalists are interviewed by a panel of judges that selects the two Regional Teachers of the Year.