Florence Steiner Award

Leadership in K-12 World Language Education

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ACTFL Florence Steiner Award for Leadership in World Language Education (K-12)

Florence Steiner
Florence Steiner

The Florence Steiner Award honors the memory of a teacher, department chair, professional speaker, and ACTFL President-Elect who was widely known and appreciated for her professional knowledge, her ability to communicate with teachers, and her wit. Working from her position as World Language Department Chair in the Glenbrook, Illinois, Public Schools, she inspired a generation of world language teachers and challenged them to improve their teaching through better communication of the goals and outcomes of second language education with the public, administrators, colleagues, and students.

The Florence Steiner Award for Leadership in World Language Education was originally supported by the generosity of the Illinois Foreign Language Teachers Association (IFLTA). Each recipient will receive a $500 cash award provided by ACTFL.

Procedures for Nomination

  1. Nominations and self-nominations may be made only by ACTFL members.
  2. The nomination dossier must include the following documents (in order):
    1. A simple cover letter introducing the nominee and the other dossier materials to follow, signed by a nominating ACTFL member.
    2. Curriculum vitae of the candidate (not to exceed 10 pages).
    3. No more than three letters of support clearly explaining the rationale for the choice of this individual (from colleagues, students, or others indicating the nominee's excellence as a teacher and/or professional leader in world language education).
    4. Other supporting documentation not to exceed 10 pages (e.g., photos, artifacts from teaching, evidence of leadership, etc.) that documents evidence of the nominee's leadership, such as membership, active participation, and/or holding office in world language organizations, work on committees, significant publications, conference presentations, and other organizational activities (see rubric for specific criteria and indicators).
  3. Complete nomination dossiers must be submitted to ACTFL in one PDF file by the deadline.
  4. No member or officer of the ACTFL Board of Directors may write a letter of support for any award nominee or actively shepherd the nomination of an award candidate.
  5. No member or officer of the ACTFL Board of Directors, or contracted employee is eligible for nomination for any award while holding these positions.

Criteria for Eligibility (Checklist)

  • The Nominee is a current ACTFL member.
  • The candidate has a minimum of five years teaching experience with at least half of each year's assignment in the area of world language education.
  • Dossier includes introductory cover letter, CV, maximum of three letters of support, and supporting documentation combined in one PDF file.

Procedures for the Selection Committee

  1. The award selection committee will be chaired by a member of ACTFL, who will be appointed by the ACTFL Past President. The chair will serve in a non-voting capacity.
  2. As soon as possible after the deadline for submission of nominations, the Committee Chair will circulate copies of the nomination dossiers to members of the committee.
  3. Committee members rate and rank the dossiers using the rubric and return their ratings and rankings to the Committee Chair by the date specified.
  4. At the discretion of the Committee, the award may or may not be presented during a given year.
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PDF View Evaluation Rubric

Florence Steiner Award Rubric

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