
Biography
Joshua Parker is the 2012 Maryland Teacher of the Year. He serves the students of Randallstown High School as an English teacher and completed a fellowship to Brazil as a Pearson Global Fellow in 2013.
Josh is a member of NNSTOY, the organization of teacher leaders that seeks to transform teaching by using its credible voice to support policies and practices that advance teacher leadership, educator effectiveness, and the conditions, capacity, and culture necessary to support great teaching and learning for all students.
Josh’s suggestion for making a difference in student outcomes:
Help students better understand a new text by encouraging them to consider and articulate their personal experience before they read.
Josh believes in being “responsive” in your teaching in order to create meaningful literacy experiences in the classroom. He advocates taking into account the whole child – their life outside of school, their culture, and their skills and prior knowledge. With this information, the teachers can better tailor questions and projects, use personal experiences as metaphors, and help students connect the themes presented in classroom readings to their own lives.
Member of NNSTOY
We are a network of State Teachers of the Year and Finalists who use our teacher leadership to ensure that every student receives an outstanding education. We do this through our focus on practice, policy and advocacy.
We Believe...- Every student has a right to a high-quality education, regardless of background, race, gender, disability or socio-economic status.
- To achieve educational excellence for all students, we must transform and support the teaching profession.
- It is imperative that we involve our nation’s expert teachers in conversations about improving education.
- Teacher leaders will transform the teaching profession and create, implement and sustain systems to solve our toughest educational challenges.
- We must prepare our country’s future workforce to be competitive in a global economy and participate in a diverse, democratic country.
- Educators must partner with families and communities on behalf of our nation’s children.
Organizes these groups

The Oluko Fellowship
with Joshua Parker
The Oluko Fellowship is a unique opportunity to gather male educators, school-based administrators, and system-wide leaders to share and learn about the challenges and opportunities for Black males in public education.
Member of these groups

The Oluko Fellowship
with Joshua Parker
The Oluko Fellowship is a unique opportunity to gather male educators, school-based administrators, and system-wide leaders to share and learn about the challenges and opportunities for Black males in public education.
TeacherTalk
Videos of Practice

Helping students better understand texts by encouraging them to consider their personal experience before they read.
with Joshua Parker
Grades 9-12