News Update

Los Angeles Unified AP English teacher is California nominee for national Teacher of the Year

Jason Torres-Rangelan Advanced Placement English teacher at Theodore Roosevelt High School in Los Angeles, will represent California in the 2023 National Teacher of the Year competition.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond nominated Torres-Rangel from among five teachers also selected as state teachers of the year.  Torres-Rangel was also named the Los Angeles Unified and LA County Teacher of the Year in 2022.

Torres-Rangel is a graduate of Los Angeles Unified and has spent over 18 years teaching English and ballet folklorico at several campuses across the district. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Pomona College and a master’s in education from Harvard University.

“To be selected as California State Teacher of the year is a profound honor. As the son of two retired Los Angeles Unified teachers,” Torres-Rangel said in a statement, “I am humbled, moved, and touched, and am so excited to uplift the voices of my students and the work of my colleagues. The work of teaching is the work of love and family; no teacher works alone, it is truly a family effort.”

This is the 50th year that California has selected a teacher of the year. The honor is presented by the California Department of Education and supported by the California Teachers of the Year Foundation to honor outstanding teachers and encourage and inspire new teachers to enter the profession.

The other four teachers of the year for 2023 are Catherine Borek, an AP English literature and drama teacher at Dominguez High in Compton Unified; Lauren Camarillo, a high school Spanish teacher at Mountain View High in the Mountain View–Los Altos Union High School District; Ben Case, an instrumental music and music theory teacher at Northwood High in Irvine Unified, and Bridgette Donald-Blue, a fourth grade teacher at Coliseum Street Elementary in Los Angeles Unified.

Meghann Seril, a third-grade teacher at Broadway Elementary School in the Los Angeles Unified district and a member of EdSource’s teachers advisory group, was among nine finalists. To see the full list, go here.