Graduates and credential completers from the National University School of Education are consistently recognized for their outstanding talents and abilities.
In addition to the numerous Teachers of the Year, National Board Certified Teachers and other alumni who distinguish themselves in accordance with various qualitative benchmarks, add the Milken Educator Award.
Established by Milken Family Foundation Chairman Lowell Milken in 1987 to provide public recognition and individual financial rewards of $25,000 to elementary and secondary teachers, principals and specialists who are furthering excellence in education, the Milken Educator Award has become the nation's largest teacher recognition program.
It has, since its inception, honored more than 2,400 educators coast to coast with more than $60 million in unrestricted cash awards. The Awards alternate each year between elementary and secondary educators. Its recipients are heralded in early to mid-career for what they have achieved and for the promise of what they have yet to accomplish.
Of the 129 Milken Educator Awards presented to California teachers since 1987, five (four percent of the statewide total) have gone to National University alumni.
It has been nearly a decade since alumna Susan Baum received the award, but the reading specialist at Solana Vista Elementary School in Solana Beach, California says the experience is “something that stays with you for a lifetime.”
“It’s an amazing honor,” she adds. “I can’t say enough wonderful things about the Milken Family Foundation. They’ve done an incredible job of keeping me connected and involved these past ten years.”
Each year, the Milken Educator Forum draws past Milken Educator Award winners together with new recipients to explore their roles and responsibilities in advancing teacher quality and in sharing innovative strategies that will make a powerful impact on students across the nation.
Ms. Baum attended the national conference the year that she won the award. She has also attended a few of the Milken Family Foundation’s California conferences, and is invited to receptions every time there is a Milken Educator Award recipient in San Diego County.
“It is an opportunity to present and listen to other recipients, to reach out and share our success as teachers, to encourage each other and to expose ourselves to inspirational books and publications,” she says.
According to Ms. Baum, the award is a complete surprise. The recipients don’t fill out an application; winners are identified by a team of researchers, who then discreetly coordinate the announcements.
"I believe my principal and a few administrators in my school district were initially aware, but nobody else," Ms. Baum explains. “They notified my husband and brought him to the assembly; so he was there when I was awarded, but I had no idea what was coming.”
A teacher since 1992, Ms. Baum earned her undergraduate degree at the University of San Diego and a master’s degree at California University, San Marcos before pursuing a Master of Science degree in School Psychology at National University.
“I never became a school psychologist,” she says, “but my education has helped me to become a better teacher and work more closely with my school psychologist. Having that ed psych background has certainly helped.”
The award-winning teacher is currently focused on turning struggling learners into confident, competent readers. She has adapted a secondary-level reading intervention program to the needs of primary students, and now coordinates its use in five schools within her district, making home visits, hosting parent education nights and enlisting local businesses to support her activities.
As is stipulated with every Milken Educator Award recipient, Ms. Baum’s $25,000 award does not have to be used for classroom purposes. In her case, she and her husband, who is also an educator, ended up investing their cash prize.
“It has given me more work-life balance, allowing me to keep my job and stay home with my family half a year,” says Ms. Baum, who has had three children since winning her award in 2000.
Teaching can be an incredibly demanding profession, and though she loves her job and enjoys coming to work every day, the Milken Educator Award recipient appreciates why many of her peers ultimately leave education to pursue other careers. She believes that the Milken Family Foundation’s efforts to recognize and reward teachers like her has played an important role in retaining thousands of others.
I don't think what I do is much different from the teacher next to me,” Ms Baum says. “And when one of us earns recognition, it encourages all of us who work in a classroom or a school.”
For brief profiles of Susan Baum and the four other alumni who have won the Milken Educator Award, click here.
For more information regarding the Milken Educator Awards, visit the Milken Family Foundation web site at http://www.mff.org/mea/.
