BENTONVILLE -- Kamisha Burlingame, a fourth-grade teacher at Thomas Jefferson Elementary School, thought she was attending a school-wide assembly Wednesday encouraging students during ACT Aspire testing week. Instead, she was surprised with a Milken Educator Award and $25,000.
The event was part of a nationwide tour honoring more than 60 outstanding elementary and secondary educators, according to a news release. The award, given to inspirational and transformational teachers, includes an unrestricted $25,000 prize and an all-expenses paid trip to Los Angeles to attend the Milken Educator Awards Forum in June.
Students and fellow teachers cheered as Greg Gallagher, Milken Educator Awards senior program director, and Stacy Smith, deputy commissioner of the Arkansas Division of Elementary and Secondary Education, presented Burlingame with the award. State and local education officials, previous Milken Educators and community leaders also were on hand to recognize her achievement.
The surprise was "amazing," Burlingame said. The $25,000 is a blessing since she's expecting a baby in August, she said.
Burlingame is the first teacher from the Bentonville School District to receive a Milken Educator Award.
She is always looking for ways to engage her fourth-graders, according to a news release from the Milken Family Foundation. She's known for transforming her classroom into an airplane -- with her in full pilot's uniform -- a football field, or a meadow strewn with picnic blankets for a book tasting, an event during which students sample a selection of books.
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Burlingame, who has been teaching for eight years, including the past four in Bentonville, said she strives to build lifelong learners. Kids want to learn more when they feel loved and when they find a passion they enjoy, she said. Classroom transformations allow students to experience things they may have never gotten to do before, such as riding on an airplane or visiting another country, she said.
"I love them, and I try my hardest to make them feel loved," Burlingame said.
"Every day, Kamisha Burlingame sparks joy and wonder in her students with lessons that capture their imagination and transform the classroom into full, interactive environments," Gallagher said. "She understands that reaching students' hearts and minds go hand in hand. Kamisha proactively connects with students and their families to support their well-rounded development."
Burlingame's excitement for learning shows in student outcomes, according to the news release. Measure of Academic Progress assessment scores have increased steadily under her instruction and her students show gains each year on the ACT assessments in literacy, math and science.
Burlingame has also received grants from Walmart and Code.org for science supplies and computers, serves on the school's Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports committee and sponsors the student council, the release states. As an avid mountain biker, she helped start Jefferson Elementary's bike club and often hits the trails with students after school, it states.
During the pandemic when students were learning online, Burlingame visited each of her students from a distance, often dropping books on their doorsteps, according to Johnny Key, secretary of the Arkansas Department of Education.
"I am pleased to recognize and celebrate Ms. Burlingame as a Milken Educator," he said in a statement. "Ms. Burlingame goes the extra mile to engage with her students by creating a safe, exciting learning environment. Her focus on building positive relationships with her students and families, however, is paramount."
The Milken Family Foundation believes educators have the most important job in the country because teachers are trusted with the responsibility to provide children with a bright future, Gallagher said. The best athletes are awarded Heisman trophies, entertainers earn Oscars, Emmys and Grammy awards, and scientists are given Nobel Prizes, so the foundation set out to give educators a similar award, he said.
Educators cannot apply for Milken Educator Awards and don't even know they are under consideration, Gallagher said. Candidates are sourced through a confidential selection process, then reviewed by panels appointed by state departments of education, the news release stated. The most exceptional are recommended for the award, with final approval by the Milken Family Foundation.
The idea for the Milken Educator Awards started in the early 1980s when Lowell Milken, chairman and co-founder of the Milken Family Foundation, began exploring strategies for strengthening the education profession. The first awards were presented to a group of 12 outstanding teachers and administrators in California in 1987.
Since then, more than $140 million, including $70 million for the individual cash awards, has been devoted to the overall Milken Educator Awards initiative, which includes powerful professional development opportunities throughout recipients' careers.
A total of 76 Arkansas educators have received a Milken Award. The last one to do so before Burlingame was Shalisha Thomas, an art teacher at Pine Bluff High School, in February 2020, according to the Milken Awards website, milkeneducatorawards.org.
Local winners
There have now been 15 winners of the Milken Educator Award from Northwest Arkansas schools:
2022: Kamisha Burlingame, Jefferson Elementary School (Benton- ville)
2016: Kara Davis, Mathias Elementary School (Rogers)
2011: Andrea McKenna, Kelly Middle School (Springdale)
2007: Margaret McClure, Lingle Middle School (Rogers)
2006: Justin Minkel, Jones Elementary School (Springdale)
2003: Melissa Miller, Lynch Middle School (Farmington)
2001: Steven Long, Rogers High School
2001: Gary Stark, Tyson Middle School (Springdale)
1997: Sara Ford, Kelly Middle School (Springdale)
1996: Kimberly Mason, Tillery Elementary School (Rogers)
1993: Rosemary Faucette, Woodland Junior High School (Fayette- ville)
1993: Don Love, Springdale High School
1992: Linda Childers Knapp, Smith Elementary School (Springdale)
1992: Silas Granderson, Elmwood Middle School (Rogers)
1991: Thomas Williams, Fayetteville High School
Source: MilkenEducatorAwards.org
Students display the amount of the $25,000 Milken Educator Award presented Wednesday to Kamisha Burlingame at Thomas Jefferson Elementary in Bentonville. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Flip Putthoff)