Ellen Moir, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the New Teacher Center (NTC), has been named the 2014 Brock International Prize in Education Laureate for her work in improving student learning by accelerating the effectiveness of new teachers and school leaders. Moir will be formally honored and will receive a $40,000 prize at the annual Brock Symposium on Excellence in Education on March 11, 2014 on the campus of the University of Oklahoma.

The Brock International Prize in Education, named for Oklahoma natives John and Donnie Brock, is awarded annually and recognizes individuals who have made a specific innovation or contribution resulting in a significant impact on the practice or understanding of the field of education.

“There are many people and organizations always looking for the next best thing in education. In contrast, Ellen Moir has sustained her focus on the effectiveness of new teachers and leaders. She has been relentless in her commitment and has not been distracted from this vision,” said Dr. Frank Hernandez, who nominated Moir for the prize. Hernandez is Dean of the College of Education at the University of Texas of the Permian Basin. He was on the jury of educators and education advocates who selected Moir for the honor during a recent meeting in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where the Brock Prize is administered.

Hernandez describes Moir as a professional who has used her own experiences as a student, teacher and professor to drive her work, and says her focus has always been on finding effective ways to induct new teachers and accelerate their effectiveness.

“The great thing about Ellen Moir is that she not only had the idea, but she also developed it in a unique way that has made a profound impact in the successful mentoring of new teachers,” John Brock said.

After working as a bilingual teacher and then Director of Teacher Education at the University of California, Moir founded NTC in 1998 to scale high quality teacher induction services to a national audience. Today NTC has a staff of more than 150 who work closely with educators and policymakers across the country, seeking to work in poverty schools in underserved communities to ensure that the nations’ low-income, minority, and English language learners, those students most often taught by inexperienced teachers, have the opportunity to receive an excellent education.

I am so grateful to the The Brock Family Community Foundation and to the Brock Prize Jurors for this recognition,” said Moir. “I accept this honor with the recognition that we need to pay close attention to the growing number of new teachers in the U.S., and give them the intensive support they need to improve student learning and to remain committed to teaching.”

Moir became a Pahara-Aspen Education Fellow in 2013, an Ashoka Fellow in 2011, and is recipient of the 2011 Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship. Other major awards include the 2013 NewSchools Venture Fund Organization of the Year Award, 2010 Civic Ventures Purpose Prize Fellow, 2008 National Staff Development Council Contribution to the Field award, the 2008 Full Circle Fund Impact Award, the Harold W. McGraw, Jr. 2005 Prize in Education, and the 2003 California Council on Teacher Education Distinguished Teacher Educator Award.

The Brock International Prize in Education is awarded annually and includes a $40,000 cash award, a certificate denoting the honor, and a bust of legendary Native American educator Sequoyah. The prize is endowed by the John and Donnie Brock Foundation through the Brock Family Community Foundation to ensure its perpetuity.