Education Week Teacher readers are encouraged to apply or nominate colleagues for the new Teaching Tolerance Award for Excellence in Culturally Responsive Teaching. The award will honor educators who excel at teaching students from diverse racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds.
Teaching Tolerance, a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center, has created the award both to recognize these teachers and promote their practices in the nation’s schools. Five winners will be selected to receive $1,000 at an awards ceremony in Washington, D.C., in December 2011. The honorees will also be videotaped in their classrooms to allow educators across the nation to learn from their teaching techniques.
The award is supported by a grant from The Richard W. Riley College of Education and Leadership at Walden University. The Southern Law Poverty Center is administering the award in collaboration with several professional organizations, including the National Education Association and Education Week Teacher.
An expert panel of scholars and National Board-certified teachers will pick the winners.
Interested teachers are invited to download the application form (PDF). The deadline for applications is June 1. All teachers may apply; applicants need not make use of resources developed by any of the participating organizations to be eligible.