The Harold W. McGraw, Jr. Prize in Education is awarded annually by the McGraw-Hill Education, The McGraw Foundations, and Arizona State University to recognize outstanding individuals who have dedicated themselves to improving education through new approaches and whose accomplishments are making a difference in Pre-K-12 education, higher education, and learning science research around the world. The McGraw Prize was established in 1988 to honor the company's founder, James H. McGraw's lifelong commitment to education and to mark the corporation's 100th anniversary. In 2015 McGraw-Hill Education formed an alliance with Arizona State University to manage the annual McGraw Prize program.
As of 2015, McGraw Prize winners are determined by on an open nomination process as well as an assessment of the importance of an individual's career-long impact on the field of education by distinguished committee of jurors. The Prize includes three categories: Pre-K-12, higher education, and learning science research. Honorees receive an award of $50,000 and a bronze sculpture designed by students from Arizona State University.
Past honorees include: CEO of EdX Anant Agarwal; superintendent of Miami-Dade school district Alberto M. Carvalho; CEO of the Afghan Institute of Learning Sakena Yacoobi; founder of Khan Academy Sal Khan; former U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley; former U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige; James B. Hunt, Jr., former Governor of North Carolina; Ellen Moir, co-founder and executive director, New Teacher Center at the University of California, Santa Cruz; James P. Comer, M.D., Maurice Falk Professor of Child Psychiatry, Yale University Child Study Center; Mary E. Diaz, Ph.D., Dean of Education, Alverno College; Christopher Cerf, a key creative force behind Sesame Street; Dennis Littky, co-founder and co-director of The Big Picture Company, The Met School and College Unbound; and Barbara Bush, founder of the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy and former First Lady.