2006 Award Winners

Five of metropolitan Chicago’s finest educators who work with children between birth and age eight have been selected as recipients of the 2006 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. They work in preschools, home day care centers, childcare centers, Head Start programs, State Prekindergartens, and kindergarten through third-grade classrooms in public, private, and parochial schools in Cook County.

The process began last fall when an esteemed committee of leaders in the field of early childhood education conducted site visits and selected 22 outstanding teachers as finalists for this award.

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 members of the Kohl McCormick Academy of Outstanding Educators. These five representatives will be honored at the 2006 Kohl McCormick Early Childhood Teaching Awards luncheon ceremony on Tuesday, May 23, at the Westin River North in Chicago.

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 Kohl McCormick StoryBus, providing hands-on learning for early literacy
  • A day of professional development at the Fall 2006 Kohl McCormick StoryBus Institute
  • A classroom field trip at the Kohl Children's Museum of Greater Chicago
  • A day of professional development from the Kohl Children's Museum of Greater Chicago
  • A graduate-level course at Chicago 's renowned Erikson Institute
  • Each is also inducted into the Kohl McCormick Academy of Outstanding Educators.

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

"The Kohl McCormick award winners play a critical role in developing our next generation by giving children the desire, confidence and skills they need to be successful in school and life," observes David L. Grange, president and CEO of the McCormick Tribune Foundation. "We salute these extraordinary educators for implementing creative learning techniques that will motivate and inspire Chicagoland's youngest children."

"We applaud the passion and dedication of five extraordinary master teachers who inspire our youngest children to love learning. The Kohl McCormick Early Childhood award recipients are the crème de la crème of their profession and we are pleased to honor them," 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 Tribune Foundation and the Dolores Kohl Education Foundation. Since 2000, the education program of the McCormick Tribune Foundation has committed more than $40 million in resources and expertise to improve the quality of early childhood education in the metropolitan Chicago area.

Meet each of the Kohl McCormick Teaching Award winners for 2006...