Approximately seven months ago, Petal Upper Elementary School math teacher Tyler Shows was named a winner of the Milken Educator Award – an accolade so prestigious it’s earned the nickname of “The Oscars of Teaching” – along with a ceremonial check for $25,000.
Those funds were made a reality during a red carpet gala April 20 and 21 at the University of California Los Angeles, where Lowell Milken, founder of the Milken Educator Awards and chairman and co-founder of the Milken Family Foundation, and Mike Milken, co-founder and president of the Milken Family Foundation, presented Shows with the cash prize. The two-day celebration was aimed at providing a professional development experience for Milken Educators to “Celebrate, Elevate and Activate” K-12 teaching.
“It’s still very strange; it’s not something I’m used to walking around with,” Shows said. “It’s become its own thing, and I’m excited about it, of course – who wouldn’t be?”
The Milken Educator Awards Forum gathered the 2022 recipients from across the country to network with their new colleagues as well as veteran Milken Educators and other education leaders to discuss how to increase their impact on K-12 education. Activities centered around the forum’s theme of “Elevating Educators” and the support new recipients will receive as members of the national Milken Educator Network of excellence.
“We were able to listen to a lot of panels, and I was able to attend a lot of sessions from some really, really talented teachers,” Shows said. “We heard about what was going on and how they advocate for their students, with what they do beyond the school and district levels.
“So that was really eye-opening, because I’ve never done anything on a national level like that. It was very interesting to see lots of different perspectives from across the country.”
In mid-October, Shows was surprised with the news that he had been named a Milken Educator during a ceremony at the Petal Upper Elementary storm shelter, where he learned he had been the only Mississippi teacher to earn the award in 2022. The ceremony was attended by the student body, several local elected officials, members of the Petal School District Board of Trustees, interim Mississippi Superintendent of Education Kim Benton, Petal School District superintendent Matt Dillon and other officials.
The Milken Educator Award, which was instituted 30 years ago by the Milken Family Foundation, is aimed at rewarding top educators around the country. The honor – the recipient of which is kept a secret until its announcement – targets early-to-mid career educational professionals for impressive achievements and for the potential of future accomplishments.
Shows was one of approximately 40 honorees from around the country to earn the award last year.
“You have this huge ‘imposter syndrome,’ that there are so many people that work so hard,” Shows said. “Especially at the school I’m at, Petal Upper Elementary, it becomes impossible to single out one person.
“So I don’t ever think you really shake that feeling of ‘why me’ – first of all, how did these people find me from California? I think that was my original thought, was that your best moments do not flash in your head during those times. All you think of is everyone else’s best moments, and how that should be recognized as well.”
Shows holds a bachelor’s degree in business and accounting from the University of Mississippi and a master’s degree in gifted education from William Carey University. He became a National Board Certified Exceptional Needs Specialist in 2021.
Shows serves as a grade-level chair and leads of professional learning community of six math teachers who work to develop standards-aligned lessons, create assessments and track data. He organizes professional development, leads instructional rounds and facilitates feedback, and mentors new and pre-service teachers.
He also serves as a professional learning facilitator in the University of Southern Mississippi’s World Class Teaching Program, and sits on the district superintendent’s advisory council.
“We are so Panther Proud of Tyler Shows for receiving the Milken Educator Award,” said Matt Dillon, superintendent of the Petal School District. “He is very deserving of this special honor. Mr. Shows is passionate about his craft as a teacher and PLC leader.
“He builds positive relationships with his students and faculty and is always prepared to go the extra mile. Our district is very fortunate to already have one Milken Award recipient, Kathryn Daniels, and we are thrilled to add Mr. Shows to that list.”
Milken Educator Awards alternate yearly between elementary and secondary educators. As educators cannot apply for the award, candidates are sourced through a confidential selection process before being reviewed by panels appointed by state departments of education.
More than $140 million in funding, including $70 million in individual $25,000 awards, has been devoted to the overall awards initiative.
The Milken Family Foundation, headquartered in Santa Monica, California, presented the first Milken Educator Award in 1987.
Shows said so far, he doesn’t have any particular plans for his cash prize.
“It kind of messes with my head – they tell you all the way back in October, and then you wait until April (for the funds),” he said. “So I’ve had all this time to think of all these different options, and then by the time we got here, I wasn’t sure about any of them.
“So right now, I think I’m just going to let it sit a while, and then I hope the right opportunity to use it will present itself.”
