Gillian Ober, an educator from Monmouth County, has been named the 2025–2026 New Jersey State Teacher of the Year. The announcement was made in partnership with the New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE), New Jersey School Boards, and Educational Testing Services (ETS). Ober is an English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher in the Freehold Borough School District and has been teaching there since 2019. She began her work at Park Avenue Elementary School and currently teaches at Freehold Intermediate School.
Ober holds dual master’s degrees: one in curriculum and instruction from Western Governors University and another in Spanish and ESL instruction from Monmouth University. Before working in New Jersey, she taught abroad for several years, including a position as a Spanish teacher at Manasquan High School. Her teaching career began in 2014 as an ESL teacher in Phang Nga, Thailand.
Ober integrates technology into her classroom by using artificial intelligence to create comic books that help students visualize novels and employing virtual reality goggles for virtual field trips to World Heritage Sites relevant to her students’ backgrounds. In addition to her school responsibilities, she serves as an adjunct professor at Monmouth and Georgian Court Universities, helping future teachers learn about working with multilingual learners. Her work has also been published in academic textbooks and peer-reviewed journals.
NJEA President Steve Beatty said, “Gillian Ober represents the very best of New Jersey’s educators — those who teach not just with skill, but with heart. Her work reminds us that true education is about connection, understanding and the belief that every child deserves to be seen and valued. She is a model of what it means to lead with compassion and purpose in today’s classrooms.”
NJEA Vice President Petal Robertson commented on Ober’s approach: “Gillian’s commitment to her multilingual learners shows what happens when equity and excellence walk hand in hand,” Robertson said. “She creates spaces where students’ languages and cultures are celebrated as assets, not obstacles.”
NJEA Secretary-Treasurer Tina Dare added, “Gillian’s passion radiates through everything she does — from empowering her students to mentoring fellow educators. She reminds all of us that teaching is both an art and a calling. Her energy, creativity and deep empathy inspire the entire education community to dream bigger for our students and ourselves.”
As part of being named Teacher of the Year, Ober will receive an all-expense paid six-month sabbatical from January through June 2026 to attend conferences, visit classrooms across the state, and work on initiatives at the NJDOE. ETS sponsors this sabbatical. The NJEA will provide technology equipment, a rental car with EZ Pass for travel within the state, access to workshops and training opportunities, a clothing allowance, media training support, and funding for a trip to Washington D.C., where she will meet other state teachers of the year and the President of the United States.
