by Robert W. Sweet, Jr.
NRRF President & Co-founder

From the outset, NRRF has been dedicated to informing current and prospective teachers about the most effective instructional reading practices that have been validated by research. As a part of our effort to educate and encourage teachers who have been trained improperly at the college level, or who have adopted reading instruction practices that are NOT based on the science, we have also been identifying master reading teachers who are outstanding reading teachers and honoring them with the Patrick Groff Teacher of the Year Award.

We know that there are thousands of such teachers all across America, unsung and unnoticed. Thus, we solicit recommendations for the Teacher of the Year from parents, other teachers, administrators, or members of the general public. We also try to find such teachers in as many different states as possible. We always leave some room for discretion in selecting a Teacher of the Year, but the mission statement below is a general summary of our philosophy.

Mission Statement

The Patrick Groff Teacher of the Year Award is given to an outstanding reading teacher who uses the essential components of reading instruction validated by research, that is, explicit, systematic instruction in phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary development, and comprehension in his or her classroom for a minimum of five years and has successfully taught all students to read proficiently.

Evaluation Standards

Each teacher will have a proven record of success in teaching all children of normal hearing and intelligence in his or her classes to read proficiently at their grade level or above. This success in teaching children to read must be for a period of more than five years, and measurable results must be presented to the evaluators. In addition, a Teacher of the Year must be effectively mentoring his or her peers to follow the principles of scientific evidence based research in reading instruction. Parents are the most perceptive “evaluators” of quality teaching, and their testimonials validating the result of each student’s success are solicited, especially for those students who are in third grade or above. A Teacher of the Year is recognized by peers, by supervisors, and by state and federal policy makers as a model for others to follow. Success breeds success, and to effectively diminish and ultimately eliminate illiteracy in America, we need to replicate successful reading teachers in every first grade classroom in America. Selection of the Teacher of the Year is made solely by the National Right to Read Foundation.

How to Nominate a Teacher

E-mail info@nrrf.org with "Nomination" in the Subject line. Include the following information about yourself: your name, address, phone number, and e-mail.

Include this information about the teacher you are nominating: teacher's name, school name, school address and phone number, teacher's phone number, teacher's e-mail, grades taught, subjects taught, number of years of teaching reading, reading program used, a summary of why you think the teacher should receive the Teacher of the Year award, and measurable results of the teacher's success in teaching reading.

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