Nisha Phillip Malahoo of Pinewood Elementary is the 2026 Toyota Family Teacher of the Year, with a $20,000 grant for family learning at the Pine Hills school.

A teacher at Pinewood Elementary in Pine Hills has been named the 2026 Toyota Family Teacher of the Year. The national award comes with a $20,000 grant for her family learning work.

The National Center for Families Learning and Toyota announced Monday that Nisha Phillip Malahoo had won. The nonprofit lists her as a STEM teacher at Pinewood. She was one of six finalists from across the country and the only one from Florida, according to UCF News.

Pinewood Elementary is an Orange County Public Schools campus on North Apopka Vineland Road in Pine Hills, about eight miles west of downtown Orlando.

What she did

The center describes Pinewood as a Title I campus, a school with a high share of students from low-income families. Its account of Malahoo’s work says she:

  • founded a STEM club, and former students have come back to say it led them to advanced STEM courses
  • moved learning off campus when she found many parents felt intimidated coming to school
  • hosted a Math Night inside a local supermarket, where families solved real-world math problems together, and attendance grew to hundreds of families
  • ran resume workshops for parents in the school’s largely Haitian Creole community and walked them through online job applications
  • follows up with families one by one, checks on attendance and personally invites families who are hesitant

Several parents found jobs after the workshops, the center said. It also said that within three months, reading proficiency in her classroom rose from 27% to 47% and math proficiency rose from 5% to 25%.

UCF, where she earned a master’s degree in education in 2021 and a doctorate in education in 2024, reported in September that she taught third grade at Pinewood for 13 years. The supermarket event is a Halloween Monster Math Night run with the local Publix, UCF said, where families use a budget worksheet to find the best deals. UCF also reported that she now works full time for the local nonprofit Above and Beyond for Change and remains a liaison at Pinewood.

What the school says

“What sets Dr. Malahoo apart is her ability to implement a truly multigenerational approach,” Pinewood Principal Rozene Frett Bowie said in the center’s announcement. Bowie said Malahoo “builds trust, fosters belonging, and creates sustainable systems of support.”

A Pinewood parent quoted by the center said: “She does more than just teach; she builds bridges.”

The award

The National Center for Families Learning, a nonprofit based in Louisville, Kentucky, has given the award with Toyota since 1997. It recognizes teachers who work with whole families and build partnerships between home and school.

  • Winner: Nisha Phillip Malahoo, Pinewood Elementary, $20,000 grant
  • Runner-up: Heather Hall, a STEM teacher at Montview Elementary School in Huntsville, Alabama, $5,000
  • Other finalists: Mary Cluley, Holly Daugherty, Kristen Kardos and Richard Roe

Both winners will be recognized Nov. 9 in San Antonio at the 2026 Families Learning Conference. Since 1997, the award’s winners, runners-up and their organizations have received $755,000 and funded 59 teacher-led projects, the center said.

What it means for you

  • The $20,000 grant goes to further her ongoing family learning efforts, the center said. Pinewood families can ask the school how to take part in its family programs.
  • Pinewood Elementary is at 3005 N. Apopka Vineland Road and can be reached at 407-532-7930 or on its school website.
  • For how Orange County Public Schools are graded and how to find your zoned school, see our public schools guide and schools page.