When Ellen Dooley, a teacher at Milken Community School in Los Angeles, went to a school assembly on Tuesday morning, she had no idea that she was going to be named a national Milken Educator Award recipient, which comes with a $25,000 cash prize.
The entire school gathered to hear from Stan Kasten, president and CEO of the Los Angeles Dodgers. After Kasten spoke, Lowell Milken, co-founder and chairman of the Milken Family Foundation, announced that Dooley, a social-science instructional leader at the private Jewish school, won the award.
She is one of two California teachers to win the award in the 2025-26 school year and one of up to 30 recipients nationwide, according to the Milken Educator Awards website.
After the assembly, Dooley told JNS that she wasn’t expecting this.
“That thought didn’t even cross my mind, because there are so many veteran teachers at this school who are absolutely phenomenal educators,” she said. “When they said my name, I didn’t even hear it, I don’t think, until everybody turned around and looked at me.”
“I’m just feeling really grateful,” she said.
Dooley worked as a curator of Latin American art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art before teaching high schoolers. She told JNS that she missed working with students when she was a curator.
When a teacher at Kehillah School, a private Jewish high school in Palo Alto, was out on maternity leave, Dooley subbed. She became a full-time teacher at the school.
“They took a risk on somebody who wasn’t a trained high school teacher with a very traditional route to the classroom,” she told JNS.
Dooley began teaching at Milken Community School in 2020 during the pandemic.
“Milken made it really easy to teach remotely and to really integrate in the community even though I wasn’t on campus,” she said. “My kids have always been the kindest, most bright, curious students to work with, and that was even true on Zoom.”
“I have learned so much from my colleagues, and Milken continuously gives me opportunities to grow and to learn,” she told JNS. “My students teach me every single day, and I am just so excited to see them every morning when I wake up, and I just want to make sure they leave here with an adult that they trust and with an education that they can take with them.”
Dooley told JNS that she will probably spend the money on her daughter’s education. Her daughter is scheduled to start transitional kindergarten next year.
‘Particularly proud’
Milken stated at the assembly that “outstanding teachers really do make a difference” and “we simply don’t do enough in our nation to support our educators.”
The Milken Educator Awards were created 39 years ago to recognize “greatness in education,” he said.
The national educator award was being given to a teacher, “who is characterized by intelligence and compassion, dedication and an unwavering belief that every young person could reach their potential,” he said.
“You cannot apply for our award,” he said. “We find you.”
“This is not a lifetime achievement award,” Milken added. “We’ve identified you, and our whole purpose is to identify great educators who are early to mid-career. You’ve already distinguished yourself, but we believe you can accomplish even greater things in the future.”
“You’re representative of so many, many great teachers at this school; otherwise, you wouldn’t have come to our attention,” he said.
Milken told JNS after the assembly that “we’ve presented more than 3,000 of these all across the nation, but we’ve never presented one before in a Jewish day school.”
“That’s why we’re particularly proud today to present it to Ellen Dooley,” an “extraordinary instructional leader,” he said.
“She teaches modern Jewish history, U.S. history, art history. She’s a mentor to other teachers, improving their skills, and she’s invested in this community,” he said.
Milken’s message to teachers is “we know that you’re underappreciated, but we’re hoping in some way that this award calls attention among the American public to the essential role that teachers play.”
“They deserve our support,” he said.
