Twin Rivers Math Teacher will Compete for California Teacher of the Year

Kadhir Rajagopal, mathematics teacher at Grant Union High School, was chosen as Sacramento County Teacher of the Year. Rajagopal, along with San Juan Unified's Shannan Brown, was selected from among 15 Sacramento area teachers to represent the county in the California Teachers of the Year competition.

Kadhir Rajagopal teaches Algebra at Grant Union High School. Closing the achievement gap is the driving force behind his approach to teaching. It's what keeps him up late at night and consumes his every waking hour.

"The story of my teaching experience has been helping students rise from failure to success," writes Rajagopal. "My greatest accomplishment in education is my success in helping students who have failed for years to consistently exceed all expectations and close the achievement gap in math."

Through a partnership with UC Davis, Rajagopal has seen a lot of success with his "DaPAC" (Pacers Achieving College) summer program that has helped a group of students move from failing algebra in 8th grade to scoring highest in our district in Algebra and entering Trigonometry/Pre-calculus in their sophomore year.

Rajagopal is one of two teachers representing Sacramento County in the California Teachers of the Year competition. Five California teachers of the year will be announced in November, with one of them advancing to the national competition.