Alaska teacher named 2023 National Teacher of the Year Finalist

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (KTVF) - President Biden hosted the Top Teachers in the Nation at the White House on Monday, April 24.

Five finalists were chosen to interview for the 2023 National Teacher of the Year Award by the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO). The educators were honored for their excellence in teaching and commitment to students’ learning.

One of the five 2023 finalists includes Alaska resident Harlee Harvey, who is a first grade teacher at Tikiġaq School in Point Hope, Alaska. She has taught at the school for a total of nine years, teaching fifth grade for three years before transferring to first grade.

Harvey was born and raised in Fairbanks, Alaska. After completing her Bachelor of Arts Degree in elementary education at the University of Alaska Fairbanks in 2014, she moved to Point Hope.

She earned her Master of Education in English as a second language and bilingual education through the American College of Education in 2017. In 2020 she returned to the American College of Education and received her educational specialist degree in educational leadership and finished her doctorate in 2022.

While at Point Hope, Harvey has learned two of the most important practices she can implement in her classroom. The first is culturally responsive teaching and the second is relationship building with students.

According to Harvey’s biography on the CCSSO website, Harlee Harvey, “is a first-grade teacher who works to authentically integrate the local Alaska native Inupiaq culture and knowledge systems into her lessons.”

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