High school  Language Arts teacher Tracy Byrd of Minneapolis, Minnesota, has been named his state’s 2024-2025 Teacher of the Year. (Photo credit: Elevate Teaching)

I am always excited to share the story of an outstanding educator who has been honored for their work in the classroom. Today I share the story of Tracy Byrd, a high school teacher from Minneapolis, Minnesota. He has been named his state’s 2024-2025 Teacher of the Year, reports the Council of Chief State School Officers.

Tracy teaches courses in Language Arts to ninth graders at Washburn High School, his own high school alma mater. There he has also served as the Head Coach for the school’s Track and Field team since 2022, and he has also coached football as the Defensive Coordinator. He has been teaching at the school since 2017. Previously, Tracy worked at Wayzata School District in Minneapolis, where he inaugurated his career in public schools as a hall supervisor. That’s when he discovered that he had a natural gift for commenting with young people.

The honored educator admits that school was not his favorite place as a young student. Education was not his original career choice. Instead, he worked for investment banks. Today, though, Tracy sees the classroom as his true calling. He declares his goal is to provide fair access to education for all students, something Byrd found lacking in his own experience, is his teaching. “True access to education can change the trajectory of a student,” Tracy asserts. “It could be the spark that ignites the flame for a young student into a field they didn’t know existed,” he continues. “To me, that is the purpose of education: Not to give them something they already know, but to show them something new and authentic so they can learn and grow,” he concludes.

Tracy earned his Bachelors degree in English Language and Literature from Metro State University in 2014. He completed the requirements for his teaching credential there in 2017.