Educator Awards and Recognition

Teacher of the Year

Louisiana is committed to celebrating the state's most extraordinary educators. Through the Louisiana Teacher of the Year program, co-sponsored by Dream Teachers, LLC, is one way the Department and the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) fulfill their commitment to recognize outstanding elementary, middle, and high school teachers from each local school system throughout the state.

The statewide competition is part of the National Teacher of the Year Program, sponsored by the ING Foundation and a project of the Council of Chief State School Officers, a nonpartisan, nationwide organization of public officials who head departments of education in the states, the District of Columbia, the Department of Defense Education Activity, and the five U.S. extra-state jurisdictions. Select the following link to visit the home page of the National Teacher of the Year Program on the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) web site.

Louisiana Teachers of the Year are selected from a pool of 24 regional finalists and the distinguished educators are not only recognized at the culmination of the daylong Cecil J. Picard Educator Excellence Symposium and Celebration, but they may be called upon to serve in other capacities as special advisors to the State Superintendent of Education or to serve on various education-related committees.