Each year, the Ohio Department of Education recognizes superior teaching performance through the Ohio Teacher of the Year program; State Board of Education members and Ohio Department of Education professionals review nominations from school districts from across the Ohio.  Following this in-depth nomination process this year, 11 State Board districts selected regional Teachers of the Year for 2022.  Hardin Northern’s Joe Foster, high school social studies teacher and Rhodes State adjunct professor, was named Ohio Department of Education’s Northwest Ohio Teacher of the Year.

Foster is also one of four finalists to win the Ohio Teacher of the Year title this summer.  A panel of education and community stakeholders will interview all four finalists to select the Ohio Teacher of the Year later this month.

Mr. Foster has been teaching history for 22 years, the past 5 years at Hardin Northern.  Mr. Foster uses a life history education method that emphasizes how people lived rather than memorizing. Mr. Foster has previously been recognized for his outstanding teaching, winning numerous educational awards including, the Gilder Leyman Institute of American History’s Ohio History Teacher of the Year and placing him among the Best Teachers in the United States.