APA TOPSS Charles T. Blair-Broeker Excellence in Teaching Awards

There will be up to three annual awards.

Winners will receive a framed certificate, engraved award, cash prize of $500 and a free TOPSS membership renewal for the 2027 membership year. Additionally, winners will receive a package of APA books as selected by the APA TOPSS committee, up to $200 in value. APA offers a wide range of critically acclaimed and award-winning books for professionals, including educators, as well as for children, parents, and caregivers.

Prior to October 2014, this award was named “APA TOPSS Excellence in Teaching Awards.”

Teachers of high school psychology are invited to apply or can be nominated by a colleague, supervisor, student, or administrator.

Nominees must be high school teacher affiliates of the APA (high school teacher affiliates are automatically members of the APA Teachers of Psychology in Secondary Schools (TOPSS)—see the high school teacher affiliate application.

Submissions are due March 2, 2026.

Apply onlineopens in new window

Application Procedure

A nomination form (PDF, 220KB)opens in new window is available for those interested in nominating a colleague or friend.

Nominated teachers are asked to provide the following in one PDF:

Two letters of support, one from each of the following categories. Letters should attest to teacher’s commitment to academic and professional excellence, passion for teaching, and/or impact on student learning. Letters must be separate from nomination form.
1. Former student who has had the candidate as a teacher in a psychology class within the last 5 school years: This letter should attest to the candidate’s teaching strengths and effectiveness as well as the candidate’s commitment to student learning in the field of psychological science.
2. Current teaching colleague, department chair, or administrator: This letter should address specific teaching observations that the person has witnessed of the candidate. The letter should attest to the candidate’s effectiveness in the psychology classroom, their strengths when working with students, their innovativeness in the psychology classroom, and/or their overall impact on students and the study of psychological science within the school building. Impacts beyond the classroom may include but are not limited to psychology club advising, other advising positions, organizing psychology speakers or field trips, hosting a psychology fair, their work on social media promoting psychology, or optional enrichment programming for students interested in the field of psychology.
An original 2-day lesson plan designed for a topic in psychology. The plan must:
1. Contain original and appropriate content and be accurate.
2. Explicitly address and be correlated to the National Standards for High School Psychology Curricula.
3. Highlight a lesson that reflects your own teaching style or that best exemplifies your teaching.
  1. If you are using or adapting a colleague's lesson or published or unpublished teacher resource materials, please cite the original author, be clear and specific about what was kept from the original lesson and how you adapted it to make it your own. Please state if original source is unknown.
  2. Additionally, please cite any resources used in your lesson including journal articles, textbooks, and/or other scholarly materials using APA-style citations.
A brief personal statement (no more than three pages, double-spaced) that discusses or describes:
1. The factors that influenced you to become a teacher.
2. What you consider to be your greatest contributions and accomplishments in the teaching of psychological science.
3. What you do in your classroom to strengthen and improve your students’ understanding psychology, including any roles and initiatives that demonstrate and/or promote. student achievement, interest, or enrichment in the field of psychology.
4. Any roles and initiatives that demonstrate and/or promote professional development activities and provide leadership for others, especially those in the field of psychology.
5. Ways in which you address the needs of all learners in your classroom or teaching (e.g, through content taught, resources used, actions taken, assignments or projects developed).
An updated CV or resume.

Judging Criteria

Submissions will be evaluated using the TOPSS rubric (PDF, 189KB)opens in new window. The award committee is appointed by the TOPSS chair and will include no less than three members. Incomplete submissions will not be considered. The committee reserves the right not to confer an award if submissions do not meet minimum requirements.

The winners will be announced in the Psychology Teacher Network newsletter.

For additional information, please contact Emily Leary Chesnes.

2026