2019 Arkansas Teacher of the Year Stacey McAdoo teaches communications and AVID at the historic Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. She had a vision over 20 years ago that she would one day stand and speak to a crowd of millions. She interpreted that vision to mean she would change the world as a writer, educator, and an advocate for students. Today that vision is a reality as she represents the voice of 34,000 educators and 500,000 students across Arkansas. 

McAdoo mixes passion and poetry to amplify the voices of her students, honor the history of her school, and unite her community. She has participated in several literacy/spoken word organizations such as the SanKofa Poets, Word Up! Poetry Troupe, and Foreign Tongues. McAdoo is an Educator to Educator Facilitator with the Arkansas Education Association, an A Plus Fellow, and the AVID coordinator. Teaching Tolerance recently featured her as a student advocate. As the author of “Sweet Melanin Messages” and “Baring My Soul,” McAdoo is the sponsor of the Writeous Poets, who co-produced the radio show entitled “The Writeous Hour” and published “A Writeous Look at the Crises.” 

McAdoo has been named the University of Arkansas’ Distinguished High School Mentor and Marian G. Lacey Little Rock School District Educator of the Year. Central High was certified as a Distinguished AVID site because of McAdoo’s leadership. One of her Writeous Poets is published in Elizabeth Eckford’s The Worst First Day: Bullied While Desegregating Central High, and her communication students published “Stage A: Where Students Think, Speak and Dream.”

McAdoo holds a Bachelor of Arts in Professional and Technical Writing from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and a Master of Arts in Teaching from the University of Arkansas at Monticello.