The soft sound of ukulele can sometimes be heard outside the kindergarten classrooms at Central Elementary School in Olathe. Music teacher Rachel Marlow knows school can be scary for first-time students, so her morning serenades are a way to calm the kindergarteners as they walk into class.
“She’s thought about a different approach of ‘this is a way I can feel like the kids are welcome in and getting them engaged,” Principal Brandi Leggett said. “And maybe now they’re really focused coming in.”
Leggett said that’s one of many things Marlow does to bring energy and positivity to the school.
“‘Amazing’ is a great way to sum up Rachel,” Leggett said.
So, it came as no surprise when Marlow was named the 2026 Kansas Teacher of the Year.
Excellence in education
The annual recognition honors K-12 educators in Kansas who represent excellence in teaching. More than 100 teachers across the state are nominated each year. A panel of educators, administrators and higher education representatives narrows the group to eight finalists before selecting a winner.
Educators from across the state, including Marlow, gathered at a conference in Wichita earlier this month. She said it was an amazing opportunity to meet and talk with so many other Kansas teachers. The Kansas State Department of Education announced Marlow as the Kansas Teacher of the Year at a banquet at the end of the week.
“To be recognized was incredibly humbling,” she said. “And the opportunity to travel and meet even more people and hear more stories — it’s just so exciting.”
As Teacher of the Year, Marlow will travel across the state to learn and share best practices with other teachers, speak with education students at universities and attend professional development conferences. She will also be able to address the House and Senate Education Committees and the State Board of Education.
“It’s through those opportunities that you can really come together and you can make positive change for tomorrow,” Marlow said.
She also received a $4,000 award and will now be in the running for National Teacher of the Year. Finalists for the NTOY will be announced in January and the winner will be named next spring.
Marlow’s “first love”
Marlow received a bachelor’s in education from Oklahoma City University. She taught music at Kansas City Christian School for five years. There she helped with a program that brought in students from local public schools who didn’t have access to the same music education as the kids at KCCS.
“You see kind of a huge discrepancy from kids who are paying to come to a private school and kids who have been brought in,” she said.
It made her think: “What am I missing?”
She then decided to get her master’s in special education from MidAmerica Nazarene University. For eight years she taught in different special education classrooms across the Olathe School District.
She settled at Central five years ago when a music position opened up. She decided she wanted to return to music — what she calls her “first love.”
Bringing music to life
Since then, Marlow has worked to instill a love of music into her students. She’s applied for and received several grants to get new instruments for the school and expose students to music outside the classroom. Last year, she took multiple grades to see the symphony at the Kauffman Center for Performing Arts.
Under Marlow’s direction, the students’ own performances at school bring a packed house.
“Seeing the kids kind of come together, maybe kids who wouldn’t necessarily find each other or hang out together,” she said. “But seeing them come together to create something much bigger than themselves, it’s just so rewarding.”
Although Marlow dedicates most of her time to music, she hasn’t abandoned her passion for special education. She regularly meets with students who need extra support to talk about their lives and connect them with other students.
Her music classes can often look different. Some days students learn new instruments like piano or the recorder. Other days they’re playing games like “Carnival of the Animals.”
“We’re crawling around the room like animals,” Marlow said. “And we’re singing and dancing about animals.”
When there’s extra time at the end of class, Marlow turns off the lights and she and the students have a dance party.
She said it’s an opportunity for them to “be who they are and make requests and show me some new dance moves that maybe I haven’t learned.”
“Music is just so fun when you share it with others,” Marlow said.
