Kansas Master Teachers Eligibility, Nomination, Selection

Eligibility Requirements

To be eligible for nomination, candidates who are active or retired teachers must have been a Kansas licensed teacher with at least seven years of teaching experience in a Kansas P-12 school.

Nomination forms may be prepared by the nominee, a school or district committee, an assigned school representative, a professional organization, a parent, or other individual or organization that would like to nominate a teacher.

Because nominations can come from a variety of sources, more than one individual may be nominated from a school or district; however, only one person from a district will be selected as a Master Teacher.

If you have questions, please contact The Teachers College Dean's office at ttcdean@emporia.edu or 620-341-5367.

Nomination

To be considered for the Kansas Master Teacher Award, the nominee will need to do the following:

1. complete the nominee profile form,
2. submit a digital photo, and
3. prepare and submit an electronic portfolio as described in Step 3 (below).

Nominee form

• Complete and submit the Nominee Profile Form. ESU will add this form to the other materials submitted for each nominee and it will be included in the review materials.

Step 2 – Electronic Photo

• Obtain a professional-quality digital file of a high-resolution 8 x 10 photo (2400 x 3000 pixels). Personally scanned photos are discouraged as the image may be distorted in the scan. (This needs to be a headshot, meaning a photo of the nominee's face or head and shoulders with a muted background.)
• For the selected Master Teachers, this image will be used for all publicity surrounding the award announcements and events (hall displays, press releases, programs, social media, and this web site). Please take appropriate steps to provide a high quality photo and please secure the necessary permission for copyrighted photos.
• The picture file will need to be submitted as a separate attachment when you complete and submit the Master Teacher Portfolio Form at the bottom of this page.

Step 3 – Electronic Nomination Portfolio

Assemble an electronic Nomination Portfolio:

• The nomination portfolio must be submitted as a single PDF file.
  
• The nomination portfolio must consist of eight sections and arranged in the order given.
  
• Page dividers may be used between sections but should not contain narrative or artifacts.
  
• All narrative must be in Times New Roman, 12-point font, double-spaced, with ½ inch margins.
  
• Digital or scanned artifacts such as photos, clippings, instructional materials, and handouts may be embedded in the narrative sections. Be sure any pertinent text in artifacts is large enough to view on an 8.5x11 inch page without enlargement. Video artifacts cannot be included.
  
• Content should be articulated clearly with proper spelling, grammar and punctuation.
  
• Evidence of impact on student learning is the major emphasis of portfolio sections 3 through 8.
  
• To best understand what criteria the selection committee will use, download the Rubric Criteria for Kansas Master Teacher Portfolios.pdf.

Portfolio Sections

1. Portfolio Cover Page (Name, District and School, Assignment). In addition, before each section of your portfolio, please provide a cover page with your name and the section name, and in the section that follows, please have a header identifying yourself and the section.
   - section cover page sample.pdf
   - section header sample.pdf
   
2. Description of Learning Community (One-page maximum)
   Describe your learning community. Include information such as building and district size; economic, social and cultural diversity; geographic location, community support; and any other factor which influences student learning in the classroom.
   
3. Philosophy of Teaching (Two-page maximum)
   Describe how your teaching practice demonstrates and embodies your teaching philosophy. (Rubric Criterion A)
   
4. Outstanding Professional Practice (Five-page maximum)
   - Describe a highly successful lesson. How did you measure its success? How do you plan to use what you learned from its success to improve your teaching practice? (Rubric Criterion B)
   - How have you been successful with hard-to-reach students? (Rubric Criterion C)
   - What are you currently finding most challenging about teaching? Why is it challenging? What steps are you taking to improve your practice in this area? (Rubric Criterion D)
   
5. Outstanding Community Engagement (Two-page maximum)
   Describe your outreach to parents, families, and communities. How have your experiences in community engagement and service increased the impact on your students and the learning community described in section 3? (Rubric Criterion E)
   
6. Continuous Professional Growth (Three-page maximum)
   - How are you a more effective teacher today than you were when you began teaching?  What did you do to improve and how do you plan to continue to grow professionally? Where do you see yourself going next in your professional growth? (Rubric Criterion F)
   - Give an example of a need you saw in your classroom. How did you know it was a need? How did you address that need and what was the outcome? (Rubric Criterion G)
   
7. Professional Service (Two-page maximum)
   List your involvement in professional organizations, dates served, and level of engagement and leadership at the state, local and national levels. How has this involvement directly or indirectly impacted student learning? (Rubric Criterion H)
   
8. Letters of Support
   Please provide a total of four* letters as evidence of exceptional professional practice. Include one letter from each of these categories: (1) educational colleagues; (2) supervisors; (3) students – former or present; and (4) community members, parents, or community officials. The salutation on the letter must be to the Kansas Master Teacher Selection Committee and the letter must be dated; Each letter should be signed with an electronic or scanned signature. (Rubric Criterion I)

NO ADDITIONAL LETTERS MAY BE INCLUDED. Although you may request more than four letters of support to ensure you get enough for your submitted portfolio, you must select only four for submission. Additional letters will not be added to the winning teachers’ electronic portfolios displayed at the Master Teacher Banquet.

Step 4 – Verifying Signatures

1. Print and gather signatures on the Verification Form.pdf. Please be sure all those signing know of your nomination.
   
2. Scan the signed form.

Step 5 – Nomination Portfolio Checklist

1. Have you adhered to the requirements for submission?
2. Are all evidences within the required number of pages/letters?
3. Has your document been converted to a single document in PDF format?
4. Have you obtained your digital professional-quality photo and verifying signatures?
5. Is your Verification Form signed and scanned?

Step 6 – Final Electronic Submission

You will need to following items to complete the electronic submission of your portfolio. Prepare the following items:

1. Nomination Portfolio (PDF file, as described above)
2. Digital 8x10 High Resolution Photo
3. Signed Verification Form

Thank you for your nomination. Please contact us if you require assistance, have questions, or you have encountered a problem submitting your information. You can contact The Teachers College Dean's office at ttcdean@emporia.edu or 620-341-5367 with any questions.

The Kansas Master Teacher Award nomination portal opened Oct. 11, 2024. Nominations will close at 5 p.m. on Jan. 10, 2025.

Selection

At the beginning of each calendar year, the selection of seven award recipients is made by the award selection committee. The committee is comprised of the president or designated representative from prominent educational organizations such as:

• Kansas-National Education Association
• Kappa Delta Pi-International Honor Society in Education
• Kansas State Board of Education
• Kansas Association of Colleges for Teacher Education
• Kansas Association of School Boards
• Kansas Congress of Parents and Teachers
• United School Administrators.
• Two Master Teachers from the previous year

Please be sure to have "Kansas Master Teacher Selection Committee" in the salutation of your letters of support.