Billy Green (MA ’11, Secondary Education and Teaching, Chemistry) has been selected as New York’s 2023 Teacher of the Year, the state’s highest recognition for exceptional teachers. Green has been teaching chemistry at the A. Philip Randolph Campus High School in Harlem since 2003.
Green himself grew up in Spanish Harlem, where he felt at home in his eclectic community because of his blend of Puerto Rican, Black, and Italian heritage.
“It was the perfect community to grow up in, because I had something in common with everyone around me,” says Green. “I learned from a very young age that communities are all about love, compassion, and care.”
El-Wise Noisette/New York State United Teachers
Also from a young age, Green’s deep love of education began to surface.
“I went to a magnet middle school, and I realized that the education I was getting wasn’t the same as the education the other Black and Brown kids in my neighborhood were; they were two or three grade levels behind me,” remembers Green. “I told my mother, ‘I think I need to open a school!’”
And so, he did, in the abandoned building his family was living in after being evicted. When the electricity came on at 6 p.m., his cousins came over for classes, learning from the lesson plans Green had written and the different teacher personas he adopted.
“My mother recognized that this was more than play,” says Green. “I’d always been told I was smart and that I should go into law or medicine because that was a mark of prestige in my community. But when my mother told me that I should become a doctor of education instead of medicine, it released the pressure I was feeling so I could pursue my dream.”
The NYU Steinhardt community is so proud of our alumni for the consistent recognition of their exceptional teaching efforts on a national scale. The honor of being named Teacher of the Year is a clear reflection of their innovative practices and their dedication to creating lifelong learners ready to change the world.
El-Wise Noisette/New York State United Teachers
His passion for chemistry arose in part because it was one of his less successful subjects in high school and he was determined to best it. However, another reason hit closer to home.
“My neighborhood was plagued by crack cocaine, and I knew that chemistry was influencing my community in a negative way,” Green says. “I wanted to become a chemist to think of better way to solve this epidemic, to figure out how to stop crack from taking away mothers, brothers, fathers, and whole families.”
Green received his undergraduate degree in chemistry from Williams College before he began teaching at Randolph. As a first-generation student, he didn’t know that his teaching license was due to expire a few years later, so he had to jump into a master’s program or risk losing his job.
The stars aligned for Green when he was introduced to Pamela Fraser-Abder, professor emeritus of science education at NYU Steinhardt, who not only encouraged him to apply to the accelerated master’s program, but also helped him discover a new scholarship from the Selby Foundation that allowed him to afford his education.
El-Wise Noisette/New York State United Teachers
“I got the scholarship and started classes literally the next day,” says Green. “I established amazing connections with peers and professors; it was this great group of people who wanted to work toward getting things right in education. Steinhardt made every hill in my life disappear for a few hours every day.”
Now working on his PhD in Science Education at Teachers College, Columbia University, Green is proud of his Teacher of the Year award because it represents the support of his community throughout his life.
“This award means something because it shows that I come from people who invested in me so I could be great for my community,” says Green. “It’s a blessing to know that no matter where I am in the world, I will always be a teacher. Working with my students is the greatest learning experience for me.”
Outside of his teaching classroom, Green’s dissertation work considers ways in which schools can provide culturally and linguistically responsive assessments of student progress, especially in STEM fields. He also sits on the Graduation Measures Blue Ribbon Commission, which is exploring what a state diploma should signify to ensure educational excellence and equity for every student in New York State.
With this honor, Green is now the New York State nominee for National Teacher of the Year. He joins other Steinhardt alumni in this honor: In 2022, Kim King (MA ’99, Art Education) was named Connecticut’s Teacher of the Year.
“The Steinhardt community is so proud of our alumni for the consistent recognition of their exceptional teaching efforts on a national scale,” says Jack H. Knott, dean of NYU Steinhardt and Gale and Ira Drukier Chair. “The honor of being named Teacher of the Year is a clear reflection of their innovative practices and their dedication to creating lifelong learners ready to change the world.”
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