WIESBADEN, GERMANY — June 22, 2011 — As the school year comes to a close, the Department of Defense Dependents Schools Europe named the top teachers in each of its five districts.

The winners are:

• Heidelberg District—Casey Burkhardt, Language Arts/AVID instructor at Patch High School in Stuttgart, Germany.
• Isles District—Kim Mitchell, Literacy coach for AFNORTH School at RAF Feltwell, in England.
• Kaiserslautern—Elsie Rosch, third-grade teacher at Spangdahlem Elementary School in Germany.
• Bavaria District—Ryan Goodfellow, a math teacher at Vilseck Middle/High School in Germany.
• Mediterranean—Angela Wilson, seventh-grade language arts teacher at Vicenza Middle School in Italy.

The DoDEA Teacher of the Year Program recognizes and promotes excellence in education. Teachers may be nominated by a peer, administrator, parent, student, or community member. Nominees complete an application packet and submit it to a selection panel at a DoDEA District Office where one applicant is chosen as the District Teacher of the Year. A second panel assembled at DoDEA Headquarters then selects the DoDEA Teacher of the Year from the candidates submitted from each district. The DoDEA Teacher of the Year competes for the title of National Teacher of the Year.

The Teacher of the Year Program encourages teachers to take an active part in educational leadership. As outstanding educators, those selected perform a variety of roles. They promote the teaching profession and work with school officials to enhance the quality of teaching and the education of DoDEA students.

The five teachers will attend a conference later this year at DODEA headquarters in Arlington, Va., with other DODEA teachers from the Far East and the U.S. schools who received the same award for their respective districts.

In the fall, DODEA will choose an overall "Teacher of the Year" for 2010-11 from among the top candidates.