Erica McCray ’08, the principal at Riverwalk Academy, learned Dec. 9 during a surprise announcement that she will receive a national Milken Educator Award and a $25,000 cash prize.
McCray is the only South Carolina recipient to receive the award.
ROCK HILL, SOUTH CAROINA - Erica McCray ’08, the principal at Riverwalk Academy, learned Dec. 9 during a surprise announcement that she will receive a national Milken Educator Award and a $25,000 cash prize.
McCray was caught off guard when Joshua Barnett, representing the Milken Family Foundation as CEO of the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching, was joined by S.C. Superintendent of Education Ellen Weaver to present the award at a school assembly. Cheering students, appreciative colleagues, dignitaries and others were there to celebrate the school and its leadership’s successes.
McCray heard the news along with her son, Caiden, a sixth grader at Riverwalk Academy, who stood by her side.
McCray’s recognition event is part of a nationwide Milken Educator Awards tour which will honor 30 recipients with the Milken Educator Award and its unrestricted $25,000 cash prize. Along with the financial prize, recipients will join the national Milken Educator Network, a growing group of over 3,000 pioneering professionals across diverse roles and disciplines working to shape the future of education.
McCray is the only South Carolina recipient to receive the award.
The Milken Educator Awards represent the nation’s preeminent teacher recognition program, often hailed as the “Oscars of Teaching.” This season will reach more than $76 million in individual cash prizes since the Awards’ first presentation in 1987 and over $146 million invested in the Milken Educator Award national network overall, empowering recipients to broaden their impact and encouraging young, capable people to consider a career in education.
About Erica McCray
Advancing from teacher to literacy coach to elementary principal, McCray’s career at Riverwalk Academy has been transformative - for herself and the school. Using her classroom experience to inform instructional leadership, McCray is the definition of a “teacher’s principal.”
Her love for the classroom and the difference she can make in her students’ lives is what drives her. “We’re a family,” McCray told the Post and Courier about Riverwalk Academy. “I love that our students, they know that no matter what, we are there for them.”
During COVID, she was instrumental in redirecting the school from a traditional instructional model to prioritizing project-based learning. With Riverwalk’s partnership with the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching (NIET), McCray utilizes NIET’s educator effectiveness model to support the faculty in this process, which has led to positive growth for educators and learning outcomes for students.
As part of the school’s emphasis on project-based learning, students take ownership of their learning and participate in exciting community-centered or passion projects.
McCray empowers teachers to utilize real-time student data to drive instruction, monitor progress and work with students in targeted small groups.
She mentors colleagues, provides professional development, visits classrooms daily and provides constructive feedback. Leading by example, McCray took a graduate class alongside several teachers for project-based learning training. Her efforts have contributed to increasing and maintaining a high teacher retention rate – and she has presented on school culture improvement strategies at the South Carolina Department of Education’s Collective Leadership Institute.
Riverwalk also received the Palmetto Silver Award in 2023-24 after McCray and a team of teachers reimagined grade-level writing expectations and benchmarks.
McCray earned a Bachelor of Arts in general communication disorders from Winthrop University in 2008, a Master of Education from the University of Phoenix in 2012 and a Master of Educational Leadership in school administration from Gardner-Webb University in 2017.
For more information, contact Laura Blank at laura@keylightcommunications.com.
*Photo credit: Milken Family Foundation
