Gold Star - Frequently Asked Questions       

What are the requirements?

Nominees must be employed full-time as non-administrative staff, hold a current teaching certificate and be teaching at an elementary-including state certified preschools, intermediate or secondary school approved by the Iowa Department of Education and located in Black Hawk County, Iowa. The Gold Star Awards Committee will strive to select winners from the full range of grade levels. Members, relatives and employees of The McElroy Trust, KWWL and The Gold Star Awards Committee are ineligible for nomination.

What are the limitations on attachments?

Please do not add any attachments to applications.  Attachments will not be considered as part of the application and will be discarded.

What are the guidelines?

To be considered for the Gold Star Award, teachers must first be nominated by someone familiar with their classroom work. The nominator could be a student or parent, a colleague or administrator, or someone from the community at large who knows the teacher's work. Self-nomination is also encouraged.  Nominees will be contacted by The Gold Star Awards Committee and asked to complete an application. The Gold Star Awards Selection Committee will review both nominations and applications to choose the winners of the Gold Star Award. The Selection Committee will contact references submitted by nominees in their applications.

Why wasn't my teacher chosen?

There could be several reasons that a teacher was not chosen for the Gold Star Awards but none of them mean that the teacher was not great!  The Gold Star program receives over 900 nominations for teachers in one year.  Of those 900 nominations, usually about 150 teachers will apply.  One reason a teacher may not have been chosen is because he or she decided not to apply.  Another reason could be that if they did apply, there were so many great applicants that they did not make the top 10.  All nominations will be mailed to teachers at the end of the school year so he or she can read them.  Even if you teacher did not receive the award, they will still be touched and honored that they were nominated.

How will I know if my nomination/application was processed?

Nomination Form: When submitting an online nomination form, when you click "send nomination," you should receive a screen that says "Thank you for your nomination!" You will NOT receive a confirmation email. If you have any questions whether it was processed, please call the Gold Star intern at 287-9102.

Application Form: When submitting an online application form, when you click "submit application," you receive a screen that says "Thank you for your application!"  In addition, you should receive a confirmation email from the Gold Star intern, confirming that is was received.  If you do not receive an email please call 287-9102 to verify.