Kentucky Teacher of the Year is a finalist for national teaching award
.jpg "Michelle Gross, a math teacher at Spencer County Middle School, is the 2026 Kentucky Teacher of the Year.")
Kentucky Teacher of the Year Michelle Gross, a middle school teacher from Spencer County, is among the finalists for the 2026 National Teacher of the Year.
Gross teaches seventh grade math and gifted studies at Spencer County Middle School in Taylorsville, about 60 miles west of Lexington. She was named Kentucky Teacher of the Year in October.
Gross is one of five finalists for the national award, which is overseen by the Council of Chief State School Officers.
She and the other finalists, teachers of the year from Alabama, Georgia, Minnesota and Pennsylvania, will participate in interviews in Washington, D.C. before the national winner is announced in the spring, the CCSSO said in a news release.
“The 2026 National Teacher of the Year will spend a year serving as an ambassador for education and uplifting the teaching profession,” the release states.
Gross, who has spent 22 years as an educator, is a graduate of the University of the Cumberlands in Williamsburg and said in an online biography that she favors project-based learning and real-world experiences, such as a competition where students design and build models of their dream homes, which are then presented to local professionals.
She said when she won the Kentucky award that she hoped to use her time as Teacher of the Year “to build a culture of learning throughout state of Kentucky that’s rooted in community.”
“I want to see every voice uplifted,” she said in a news release at the time. “I want it expand beyond a single classroom or a single year.”
