Maywood Teacher Receives Prestigious Milken Award
LOS ANGELES (CBS 2) — A Maywood Elementary School teacher was taken by surprise Wednesday when she walked into a school assembly and was told she had won the Milken Educator Award and a $25,000 prize.
The award is dubbed as "The Oscars" of teaching by Teacher Magazine.
Tamara Garfio conducts her combined fourth and fifth grade class much like a college seminar, asking students to drive the conversation with sophisticated questions and requires her students to read and discuss their work in class.
Garfio offers training classes for parents, coordinates an accelerated reader program for students from second through fifth grade and holds individual conferences with students about books they are reading.
According to the most recent scores, 90 percent of Garfio's students scored advanced or proficient in the language arts portion of the state's standardized tests.
"We created the Milken Educator Awards to proclaim in a very public way that greatness in education must be recognized and rewarded," said Lowell Milken, chairman and co-founder of the Milken Family Foundation, which presents the award.
"Tamara Garfio embodies this message intended for entire communities, policymakers, students who may be inspired to enter the profession and for our nation's K-12 educators themselves."
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