APA Press Release
May 8, 2007
Contact: Public Affairs
(202) 336-5700

APA AWARDS OUTSTANDING PSYCHOLOGY TEACHERS WITH THE EXCELLENCE IN TEACHING AWARD

Washington, DC—The American Psychological Association’s Committee of Teachers of Psychology in Secondary Schools (TOPSS) recently awarded three high school teachers with the prestigious TOPSS Excellence in Teaching Award.

Award winners, who are Michael McLane of Sterling Heights High School, Sterling Heights, Michigan; Jacquelynn Norman of San Marcos High School, San Marcos, Texas; and Susan Spencer of Arthur L. Johnson High School, Clark, New Jersey, are recognized for exemplary teaching and for their commitment to academic and professional excellence.

"TOPSS congratulates the three recipients of the Annual Excellence in Teaching Award. Each awardee demonstrated skills as a content expert and classroom instructor,” stated TOPSS Chair, Laura Brandt.          

Each teacher receives a framed certificate, an engraved award, a copy of the ActivePsych CD series, a complimentary one-year TOPSS membership, and a cash prize.  The ActivePsych CD series was donated by Worth Publishers.

TOPSS offers teaching materials, professional development opportunities, a speakers’ bureau, a quarterly newsletter, National Standards for High School Psychology Curricula, and programs for high school psychology teachers and students. There are approximately 1,800 High School Teacher Affiliates of the American Psychological Association, and this number continues to grow as the organization reaches out to the approximately 6,150 high school psychology teachers in the United States.

"It is my honor to congratulate these teachers for a job well done,” stated Brandt.

The mission of the American Psychological Association Teachers of Psychology in Secondary Schools (TOPSS) is to promote the scientific nature of introductory and advanced high school psychology; to meet curricular needs of secondary school teachers; and to provide opportunities for high school students to be recognized and rewarded for their academic excellence.

The American Psychological Association (APA), in Washington, DC, is the largest scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States and is the world’s largest association of psychologists.  APA’s membership includes more than 148,000 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants and students.  Through its divisions in 54 subfields of psychology and affiliations with 60 state, territorial and Canadian provincial associations, APA works to advance psychology as a science, as a profession and as a means of promoting human welfare.

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