Kareem Neal

Special Education teacher and the 2019 Arizona Teacher of the Year

Phoenix

Kareem Neal is a self-contained Special Education teacher and the 2019 Arizona Teacher of the Year. He has taught students with severe cognitive delays for 21 years. Kareem began his career as an educator working at The Developmental Learning Center of New Providence, a school for students with autism, where he received training in Applied Behavior Analysis and learned techniques

for reaching students with special needs. After three years, he relocated to Arizona to study under the world-renowned Occupational Therapist, Lorna Jean King, and teach at The Children'sCenter for Neurodevelopmental Studies where he learned how to apply advanced cognitive and behavioral teaching strategies and Sensory Integration in a classroom setting. For the past twelve years,he has served as the self-contained Special Education teacher for Maryvale High School. As the PLCleader for the Phoenix Union High School District, he has created and developed the curriculum across all content areas used district wide in self-contained Special Education classes.Kareem is also the sponsor of Maryvale High's Diversity Club and the Vice President of the Phoenix UnionHigh School District's Black Alliance. He has been recognized by the National Education Association with a Diversity Grant; earned the MaryvaleRevitalization Committee's Educator Excellence Award, and is working on National Board Certification. Kareem was awarded an honorary doctorate at Northern Arizona University for his work in education in the state of Arizona and is a current Understood Fellow.