2026 Phase 1 Toyota Family Teacher of the Year Application

Since 1997, the National Center for Families Learning and Toyota Motor North America (Toyota) have partnered to recognize educators who are making a difference in the lives of families. Now in its 30th year, the Toyota Family Teacher of the Year Award honors extraordinary educators who use a strong multigenerational approach to learning and focus on building effective family-school partnerships that support student learning outcomes and school improvement. NCFL and Toyota seek nominations from across the United States in order to amplify unsung heroes in our communities and their efforts to help families succeed and thrive.

The educator selected as the Toyota Family Teacher of the Year will receive a $20,000 grant to further ongoing family learning efforts. One runner-up will receive $5,000. The winner and runner-up will be recognized in San Antonio, Texas on November 10th during the 2026 Families Learning Conference, NCFL’s annual convening of educators, practitioners, researchers, and community-based organizations from across the nation.

Who can nominate:

• Students or participants, parents of students, school leaders, colleagues, and community members are encouraged to nominate an educator who should be recognized for their service and impact.
  • Relatives of nominees are not eligible to nominate.
• Nominators should know the nominee’s work well and have a thorough knowledge of the nominee’s strengths, approaches, and positive impact on behalf of children and families.
• Parents wishing to nominate their student’s teacher (and students wishing to nominate their teachers) are strongly encouraged to partner with a school administrator to complete the nomination form.

Nomination process:
Nominations will be accepted in two phases. During the first phase, anyone can nominate a family educator. The selection committee will review nominations on a rolling basis, and select nominators to complete a more thorough application as well as submit a letter of support from the nominee’s supervisor or school/organization leader.

• February 18 through March 18 – Open call for nominations
• February 25 through April 30 – Nominators invited to complete expanded (2nd-phase) application
• June – Finalists interview with selection committee
• July – Non-finalists notified of status
• November – Winner and runner-up recognized at the 2026 Families Learning Conference

Nomination requirements:

• Nominations should include compelling evidence and concrete examples of how the nominee engages families in the learning process
• Phase 2 applications must include letters of support from the nominee’s school principal or organization executive director (unless the nominator is the nominee's principal or executive director) AND a parent/student.
• Schools or organization-based programs may nominate up to two family educators using separate nomination forms.
• Self-nominations and nominations from relatives of the nominee will be disqualified.
• Incomplete nominations or late submissions will not be accepted.

Nominees must meet the following criteria:

• Work in the United States for a school- or community-based program that engages families in learning.
• 75% of nominee’s work is in the classroom or teaching environment.
• Demonstrate a record of success engaging families in educational settings. Examples of successful efforts include, but are not limited to: 
  • creating opportunities for families, schools, and communities to build their capacity for home-to-school partnerships;
  • targeting the needs voiced by families and those of the communities in which they live;
  • using evidence-based family engagement practices that show promise;
  • focusing on children’s academics, oral language or vocabulary development, adults' learning goals, and/or reading and literacy development;
• Have a passion and persistence for supporting the engagement of parents.
• Work alongside parents using a strong multigenerational approach to help them learn together in innovative ways.
• Implement innovative ideas for expanding their program to benefit families and/or to engage more families.
• Serve communities and families with high literacy needs and socioeconomic needs.

Award requirements:

• Winning educators will be asked to participate in NCFL’s outreach activities to promote their practices and programs, including:
  • Participation in the 2026 Families Learning Conference in San Antonio, Texas from November 8-11. (Travel, lodging, and registration expenses will be covered by NCFL.)
  • Participation in a Teacher of the Year webinar in the spring of 2027. 
  • Participation in other outreach-related activities such as blog posts, social media, etc.
• Award funds must be used on a family engagement project during the 2027 calendar year. 
• Award winners will commit to sharing project and family stories with NCFL on an ongoing basis, to be used for communications throughout the year—including NCFL social media platforms.
• Award winners will commit to sharing with NCFL any intellectual property (including lesson plans, handbooks, posters, etc., where applicable) created using grant funds. 
• Award winners will commit to sharing an end-of-year report with NCFL outlining the project.

Nominators can preview a PDF of the application in English or Spanish*. Official nominations must be submitted via the online form in English or Spanish*. Incomplete entries can be saved and returned to at another time. All required sections must be complete before submitting nominations.

Nomination deadlines:

• Phase 1 nominations must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. PDT on Wednesday, March 18, 2026.
• Phase 2 nominations must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. PDT on Thursday, April 30, 2026.

For assistance or questions, please contact Sara Ulliman at sulliman@familieslearning.org.

*This application can be translated into additional languages by emailing Sara Ulliman at sulliman@familieslearning.org. Translation requests will be completed within 3-4 business days.

Application definitions:

• Nominator – Person completing application
• Nominee – Person being nominated
• Best practices – Methods or techniques that have been shown by research and experience to work better than other methods over time
• Literacy rate – The percentage of the population of a given age group that can read and write
• Multigenerational approach – Engaging parents and children in learning
• Parent – A person caring for a child, including someone who may not be a parent or guardian. NCFL uses this term to reflect a variety of families.
• Socioeconomic status – A combination of factors that describe families’ access to opportunities. Factors include income and overall financial security, education, and resources.