The process began last fall when an esteemed committee of leaders in the field of early childhood education conducted site visits and selected 19 outstanding teachers as finalists for this award.
Five of these outstanding educators will be chosen to represent the best of the field, following a final application process that includes additional site visits and interviews by members of the Kohl McCormick Academy of Outstanding Educators. Those five representatives will be announced in April, and they will be honored at the 2009 Kohl McCormick Early Childhood Teaching Awards luncheon ceremony on Tuesday, June 2, at the Westin River North in Chicago.
Each of the five representatives will receive:
A $5,000 cash award
A $1,000 cash award for your school or center
Induction into the Kohl McCormick Academy of Outstanding Educators
A classroom visit and professional development from the StoryBus
A field trip at and professional development at the Kohl Children’s Museum of Greater Chicago
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A graduate-level course at The Erikson Institute
Recognition at a formal awards ceremony
While there are numerous teaching awards in the United States, the Kohl McCormick Early Childhood Teaching Awards is the first awards program to formally recognize the contributions of teachers working with children from infancy through third grade. In its fourteenth year, the Kohl McCormick Awards program has become a model for recognition of outstanding early childhood educators.
“While education reform debates continue at a local and national level, we must remember that our early education teachers are the ones who lay the foundations for literacy and prepare children for success in school,” says Sara Slaughter, education program director of the McCormick Foundation. “The Kohl McCormick Teaching Award winners accomplish this by teaching and nurturing our youngest learners each day. The McCormick Foundation applauds these winning teachers.”
“Great teachers make all the difference in the world. They have the potential to impact the development of a young child as well as their surrounding environments,” observes Catherine Knox, manager of the Kohl McCormick Early Childhood Teaching Awards. “These teachers are models within the field of early childhood education. They partner with their students and families, inspiring change in the communities in which they work. I believe we can all be inspired by their dedication and commitment as they invest in our collective future, one young mind at a time.”
The Kohl McCormick Early Childhood Teaching Awards program is sponsored by the McCormick Foundation and the Dolores Kohl Education Foundation. Since 1993, the education program of the McCormick Foundation has committed more than $67.
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million in resources and expertise to improve the quality of early childhood education in the metropolitan Chicago area.
Visit www.kohlmccormickawards.org to learn more about the awards program.
2009 Kohl McCormick Early Childhood Teaching Awards
(List with finalist’s name, school, location of school and residence, phone, type of educational program.)
Eva Wojkowski
School: St. Helen School (West Town, Chicago)
2347 W. Augusta Blvd.
Chicago, IL 60622
773.486.1055
Preschool- NAEYC and Early Childhood Environment Rating
Scale Accredited
Residence: North Chicago