2009 Award Winners

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Five of metropolitan Chicago's finest educators who work with children between birth and age eight have been selected as recipients of the 2009 Kohl McCormick Early Childhood Teaching Awards. These educators exemplify the best practices of quality early childhood teaching: dedication, innovation, leadership, respect for children and their families, and commitment to professional growth.

The selection process began last fall when an esteemed committee of leaders in the field of early childhood education reviewed more than 200 nominees. Committee members conducted site visits on 85 of the candidates, and from these observations they selected 19 outstanding teachers as finalists for this award. The finalists work in preschools, home day care centers, childcare centers, Head Start programs, Preschool For All programs, and kindergarten through third-grade classrooms in public, private, and parochial schools in Cook and DuPage Counties.

Five of those outstanding educators have now been chosen to represent the best of the field, following a final application process that included additional site visits and interviews by fellows from the Kohl McCormick Academy of Outstanding Educators. These five representatives will be honored at the 2009 Kohl McCormick Early Childhood Teaching Awards, an invitation-only luncheon ceremony being held on Tuesday, June 2, at the Westin Chicago River North.

The Kohl McCormick Award winners for 2009 are:

Dayna Darby
Talcott Fine Arts and Museum Academy, Chicago
Preschool for All

Elizabeth Goss
Legacy Charter School, Chicago
Second Grade

Camia Hoard
Frazier Preparatory Academy, Chicago
First Grade

Lourdes Molina
Belmont Cragin Early Childhood Center, Chicago
Bilingual Preschool

Patricia Twymon
Wee are the World Day Care, Calumet City
Home Day Care

Each of the five representatives will receive:

• A $5,000 cash award
• A $1,000 cash award for the winner's school or center
• A classroom visit from the StoryBus, providing hands-on learning for early literacy
• A classroom field trip to and day of professional development from the Kohl Children's Museum of Greater Chicago
• A graduate-level course at Chicago's renowned Erikson Institute

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 thirteenth year, the Kohl McCormick Awards program has become a model for recognition of outstanding early childhood educators.

“The Kohl McCormick award winners embody a spirit of service that enables Chicagoland’s youngest children to gain the desire, confidence and skills they need to be successful in school and in life,” observes David L. Grange, president and CEO of the McCormick Foundation. “We are honored to award these extraordinary educators for their positive role in developing our youngest children to be life-long learners.”

“We applaud the commitment and creativity of these five outstanding teachers who nurture the curiosity of their young students, opening the door to learning and guiding them to become valued members of the community!” adds Dolores Kohl, president and CEO of the Dolores Kohl Education Foundation.

The Kohl McCormick Early Childhood Teaching Awards program is sponsored by the McCormick Foundation and the Dolores Kohl Education Foundation.

The McCormick Foundation is one of the nation’s largest charitable organizations committed to strengthening our free, democratic society by investing in our children, communities and country. Through its six grantmaking programs, Cantigny Park and Golf, three world-class museums, and civic education outreach program, the Foundation helps build a more active and engaged citizenry. It was established as a charitable trust in 1955, upon the death of Colonel Robert R. McCormick, the longtime editor and publisher of the Chicago Tribune.

Since 1993, early childhood education has been a cornerstone of the McCormick Foundation’s commitment to serve children. The Foundation has distributed more than $80 million in grants to build public awareness, change public policy and improve the quality of programs, curriculum and teacher training. Together, these priorities have advanced the goal of building a system of quality early care and education for children birth to age five in Illinois. For more information about the Foundation and its efforts, please visit www.McCormickFoundation.org.

With the goal of enhancing children’s learning through the support of exemplary teaching, the Dolores Kohl Education Foundation was launched in 1972 as a private, not-for-profit international operating foundation. Having pioneered Teacher Centers in Illinois and Israel—which sparked a host of similar programs worldwide—the Foundation later launched and directed the Kohl Children's Museum, a model for early learning through experiential environments. For a decade, the Kohl International Teaching Awards honored local and national elementary and high school teachers. International Peace Prizes, media awards and lifetime achievement awards were presented for exceptional contributions to the field of education. As a catalyst for excellence in education from preschool to adult learners, the Foundation continues to operate innovative education and arts programs in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit www.dkef.org.