Teachers of the Year



Spotlighting teaching excellence and exemplary professionalism in public education.

gold and red apples icon with text that says Los Angeles County Teachers of the Year

The Los Angeles County Teachers of the Year (TOY) Program is the largest of its kind in the state and part of the oldest and most prestigious honors competition in U.S. for public school teachers. 

The teachers selected as Los Angeles County Teachers of the Year are educators who have shown exemplary dedication, compelling classroom practices, positive accomplishments and professional commitment. They serve as standard-bearers for the teaching profession and their 72,000 classroom colleagues countywide.

 


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The 2024-2025 LA County Teacher of the Year Application is in 2 parts: Online Form & Written portion. The link for the online form will be posted when it becomes available.

 

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The application for the 2024-2025 Teacher of the Year Program will be posted when it becomes available.

ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS:

To be eligible for the California TOY Program, applicants must be:

  1. Fully credentialed teachers currently employed to teach any pre-kindergarten through grade twelve. 
  2. Employed full-time in LA County public schools.
  3. Applicants may be assigned some administrative responsibilities but for whom teaching students is the primary responsibility.
  4. Teachers who are available to fulfill ambassadorial duties during the year of service and be supported by their employer.
  5. Teachers who have been in the classroom for more than eight years at the time of the application submission.

Applicants must:

  • Have been named as a finalist in their District competition.
  • Have demonstrated leadership and innovation in and outside of the classroom walls that embodies lifelong learning.
  • Have expressed themselves in an engaging and articulate way.

Applicants to the county program may be selected as a California Teacher of the Year. Because of that possibility, all applicants should be prepared to fulfill the responsibilities of representing the teaching profession in a variety of settings and assisting their teaching colleagues in a variety of ways. Teachers selected as state winners may be called away from their classroom 30 or more instructional days during their title year.

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Teacher of the Year candidates must complete and submit the entire application. The deadline to submit the application for the 2024-2025 competition will be posted when available. 

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All district-level Teachers of the Year are invited to attend the awards luncheon. The sixteen (16) winners of the Los Angeles County Teachers of the Year competition will be publicly announced at the luncheon. Family members, parents, students, former students, district representatives and news media will also be invited.

Flyer showing Teachers of the Year sponsors

The Los Angeles County Teachers of the Year program would not be possible without the support of our sponsors. We would like to thank the following sponsors for their financial support and donations.

LACOE Signature Fund:

  • California Credit Union
  • The Greater LA Education Foundation
  • Arizona State University
  • Little Bit Learning
  • Lexia Learning
  • TeachFX
TOY Sponsors:
  • Lakeshore
  • LA Clippers
  • LA Rams
  • LA Chargers
  • Ghirardelli
  • Hilton

TOY Anna Paliza from the Keppel Union School District shares her advice to support your teaching and improve student learning experiences. 

Highlights from the 2023 Los Angeles County Teachers of the Year banquet.





CONNECT WITH US

Naime Laskar
Events Coordinator
laskar_naime@lacoe.edu