2026 National Teacher of the Year shares playbook for power

Sign up for Chalkbeat’s free weekly newsletter to keep up with how education is changing across the U.S.When Leon Smith was a kid at camp, adults would tap him to keep an eye on younger children and make a point of praising how well he handled the responsibility. It sparked a thought — probably helped along by the fact that both his parents were educators — that teaching might be the way he could make a difference in the world and in the lives of others. He especially wanted to be the Black male teacher he only briefly got to experience as a child. That student teacher Smith had in 10th grade “made me feel the way that I hope all students feel in classrooms, and that is to feel a sense of belonging, a sense of dignity. And it just really gave me a great passion.”Smith, a history teacher at Haverford High School in Pennsylvania, was named the 2026 teacher of the year by the Council of Chief State School Officers on Tuesday. He’ll spend the next year as an ambassador for the teaching pro