Dana Melone, MAT, MS, a psychology teacher at Kennedy High School in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, has been named a recipient of the 2025 APA TOPSS Charles T. Blair-Broeker Excellence in Teaching Award by the APA’s Committee of Teachers of Psychology in Secondary Schools (TOPSS).
With over two decades of experience teaching psychology, Melone has consistently been recognized as an outstanding educator. She teaches various social studies courses, including Advanced Placement (AP) Psychology, Brain-Based Study Skills, and Social Psychology. Due to her exceptional dedication and impact in the classroom, Melone was named Teacher of the Year by the Iowa Council for the Social Studies in 2016. She also earned a Teacher of the Year nomination from the National Council of the Social Studies.
Melone’s students commend her unique and memorable teaching style. A former student mentioned: “From the first day of class, it was clear that Ms. Melone possessed a unique ability to make difficult concepts of psychology easy to understand.”
Melone’s teaching skills are well-known throughout Kennedy High School, making her AP psychology course “easily the most requested AP course in our department,” according to Melone’s colleague George Anderson. Anderson, Kennedy High School’s Social Studies Department Chair, has been working with Melone for over 17 years. He said that Melone is “relentless in her attempts to engage students in psychology.”
In addition to being an outstanding teacher, Melone is relentless in her promotion of psychological science outside of the classroom. During the summer, she works for the College Board as an Advanced Placement Consultant. In this role, she trains other AP Psychology teachers on how to be the best educators possible. She started a chapter of the Cougar Bandana Project at Kennedy, educating students on the importance of mental health awareness and encouraging students to ask for help. She also started a Psi Alpha chapter at her school; Psi Alpha is the national high school honor society in psychology. Melone was elected as the 2022 chair of the APA’s TOPSS Committee after serving a three-year term as a TOPSS Committee member-at-large. Throughout her career, Melone has consistently proven her devotion to her students and the field of psychology.
Melone "has a remarkable gift for making complex psychological concepts accessible and engaging, creating a classroom environment that students eagerly seek out,” said APA TOPSS Committee chair Natasha Alston, MPS. “Her relentless dedication extends beyond teaching AP Psychology to advocating for mental health awareness [at her school.]… I've witnessed firsthand her exceptional commitment to elevating psychological education and supporting fellow teachers.”
The APA TOPSS Committee is excited to present this award to Dana Melone for her commitment to her students and to advancing the quality of high school psychology teaching.
As an award recipient, Melone will receive a framed certificate, engraved award, cash prize of $500, and a complimentary TOPSS membership renewal for the 2026 membership year. She will also receive complimentary copies of APA Style’s Publication Manual and Concise Guide to APA Style books, and a curated $200 value package of APA books selected by the APA TOPSS Committee.
TOPSS is the voice of high school psychology teachers within APA. Through APA’s education unit, TOPSS offers teaching materials, professional development opportunities, the Psychology Teacher Network quarterly newsletter, and programs for high school psychology teachers and students. There are approximately 2,000 APA high school teacher affiliates in APA.
High school psychology is a rapidly growing course option. In 2024, just over 320,100 students took the Advanced Placement psychology examination (College Board, 2024). Additionally, over 29,500 high school students worldwide took the IB psychology exam in psychology in 2024 (International Baccalaureate Organization, 2024-a, 2024-b). Other psychology courses are taught at the high school level, including on-level, dual credit, and Cambridge Advanced International Certificate of Education (AICE) psychology courses. Recent data from the Department of Education indicated that 29.96% of graduating students across the country had earned credit for taking a psychology course during high school (U.S. Department of Education, 2022)
TOPSS’s mission is to promote the highest standards in the teaching of psychology as a science and discipline; promote professional development and other means for lifelong learning for high school teachers of psychology; facilitate networking among teachers from all teaching levels of psychology; encourage recruitment and retention of students in the field of psychology; enhance the visibility and legitimacy of high school psychology; and recommend the appropriate response to advocacy, education policy and certification issues that impact the quality or visibility of teaching of high school psychology. Learn more about TOPSS on the APA Teachers of Psychology in Secondary Schools webpage and on its Facebook page.
APA is the leading scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States, with 172,000 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants, and students as its members and supporters. APA's mission is to promote the advancement, communication, and application of psychological science and knowledge to benefit society and improve lives.
For more information, please contact Emily Leary Chesnes.
