In the nearly two decades he’s been developing School Without Walls’ instrumental music program, Christopher Alberts has seen District officials, at times, struggle to fund extracurricular teaching positions for his school and others.
That’s why, as the 2026 D.C. Teacher of the Year, Alberts aims to promote arts education as a non-negotiable in future budget discussions.
“We are in a society right now that wants you to march to A and B, wants to think for you, wants you to do things the way that they want you to do them,” Alberts told The Informer. “The arts is the antithesis of that. They want you to think for yourself. They want you to create for yourself. They want you to work with people. They want you to collaborate. We’re not just sitting in a room trying to achieve a test score”
On Oct. 16, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser surprised School Without Walls community members when she announced Alberts as the 2026 D.C. Teacher of the Year.
Minutes before she took to the stage, School Without Walls’ stage band, a brainchild of Alberts, performed a musical number before the likes of state Superintendent Dr. Antoinette Mitchell, D.C. Council member Brooke Pinto (D-Ward 2), and D.C. State Board of Education Reps. Ben Williams (a Ward 1 representative and School Without Walls teacher) and Allister Chang (Ward 2).
Alberts, in his 18th year as School Without Walls’ first and only instrumental teacher, formed the stage band early in his tenure when student guitarists and drummers wanted to play contemporary songs together.
He also consolidated what was then a small orchestra and band into an Advanced Placement music theory class. During the school day, students under his purview take that class, along with: general music, guitar, and piano, and a digital music class that’s in its fourth year of existence.
“That was part of what attracted me to coming to Walls,” Alberts told The Informer. “I got to build the program from the ground up. It got to be what it is that I wanted it to be, as opposed to stepping into something that had already been established and had expectations of being one way or the other.”
School Without Walls, an application-based high school located on the campus of George Washington University in Northwest, first opened in 1971. With a 100% high school graduation and 100% college acceptance rate, it has always counted among the District’s highest-performing schools. This year, the public school ranked the highest of the District’s top 20 schools, and, overall, 69th in the country, according to the U.S. News & World Report.
This happened as, according to Albert, the school went without at least one of their extracurricular teachers.
“Last year we lost our theater teacher,” Albert said. “Two years before that, we lost our theater teacher. We got her back or another theater teacher back, and then we lost them the very next year because the budget said you can’t have [it].”
Alberts said that students — especially those attending academically rigorous application-based schools — can’t be without a well-rounded education.
“This is very much a college preparatory school with a workload [that’s] intense and it’s not to be taken lightly,” Alberts said. “When I got here, kind of like taking a sense of that in. I wanted to make sure that I offered something different, an escape for the kids where they could still perform at a high level, still have all the rigor, but not feel the pressure that comes along with that.”
Christopher Alberts: The Curator of a School Community
Alberts is the third consecutive D.C. Public Schools teacher to be named D.C. Teacher of the Year.
He’s now part of a club that includes: Jazzmyne Townsend of Stanton Elementary School, Beth Barkley, then of Cardozo Education Campus; Jermar Rountree of Center City Public Charter School – Brightwood Campus; Dominique Foster of Friendship Public Charter School – Blow Pierce Campus; Alejandro Disagranados of Aiton Elementary School; and Justin Lopez-Cardoze of Capital City Public Charter School.
In her remarks, Bowser acknowledged Alberts’ students, including who recalled finding their voice after writing and performing a song about teen mental health. She also spoke highly about Alberts as she alluded to his teaching mission.
“We want to thank you for what you have done, not only for this wonderful cohort of students at Walls, but for all of them and all the children you have inspired throughout your teaching career,” Bowser said on Oct. 16. “We are grateful for you. We’re proud of you. And we can’t wait to see more musicians, thinkers, leaders, collaborators and creators because of you.”
The Council of Chief State School Officials is scheduled to name the 2026 U.S. Teacher of the Year by next spring. As Alberts vies for the national title, he has the support of students who say they’ve become stronger, more confident instrumentalists under his tutelage.
“Part of being a musician is being scared of making a mistake,” said Yeselyn Iraheta, one of Alberts’ orchestra students, as she reflects on lessons learned in Alberts’ class. “I always tell [the freshmen], you just got to go for the high note. If you don’t know how to do something, ask someone.”
In further cementing her point, Yeselyn pointed to the wall.
“You see the poster right there, ‘Loud and Wrong,’” Yeselyn said. “It tells you [to not] be afraid to make mistakes.”
At the beginning of the 2025-2026 school year, Yeselyn returned to School Without Walls a far cry from the shy percussionist who first entered high school two years prior. Weeks later, she continues to look around the room in amazement at the young people going through similar experiences.
“Once [they’ve] established a relationship with…Mr. Alberts, I could see the comfort that brought to the freshman,” Yeselyn said. “I remember that I was scared [on] my first day. It felt like a full circle moment where I really built a community in three years.”
Yeselyn entered School Without Walls during the fall of 2023 with two years of drumming experience under her belt. A year into knowing Alberts and joining the orchestra, Yeselyn, at the advice of Alberts, embraced the bassoon— a versatile, underrepresented woodwind instrument.
Through her dedication, she, like several other students in School Without Walls’ music program, also acquired passport stamps via an international music tour along the southern coast of Spain.
Alberts, Yeselyn said, opened her eyes to the possibilities that unfold when one steps out of their comfort zone.
“To this day, I talk about that trip,” Yeselyn said. “ It’s unheard of…that you were going to take 60 kids, choir, stage band, jazz band, and orchestra to another country, and we’re going to perform in that other country. That was just incredible, because he kept it all organized.”
Miles Bishop, another 11th grader at School Without Walls, said he could also speak to the welcoming environment that Alberts creates.
“He would make you feel like it was okay to be at a position less than your section leader in the orchestra.” Miles told The Informer. “He made you feel happy to be a part of anything, no matter how little you were really doing. You felt that you were part of the community and the orchestra.”
By the time Miles reached out to Alberts during his freshman year at School Without Walls, he had been playing guitar for three years, and the cello but only briefly. After speaking with Alberts about his goal of studying the cello further, Miles went on to “pluck” with the orchestra, but only for a semester.
Eventually, after some more practice, Miles joined the stage band.
“He didn’t make me feel self-conscious about that,” Miles said about Alberts. “He really welcomed me into the space and it really made me want to get better at the cello and guitar so that I could eventually join [the] stage band.”
On what would become Alberts’ big day, Miles and other stage band members were preparing for a show they found about at the last minute. Despite the short notice, Miles said the band rose to the occasion with Alberts’ guidance.
“I think we really focused hard to be able to be prepared,” Miles said. “Mr. Alberts [was] in the stage band management and…we just wanted to make sure that we knew the songs well and could perform them well.”
More than a week after celebrating Alberts’ award, Miles continues to sing the praises of the man he credits with accentuating his School Without Walls experience.
“He deserves every ounce of that $7,500 that he was gifted,” Miles told The Informer about Alberts. “No other teacher has done what he’s done to the level of what he’s done here. The community he’s built, it means so much to so many people.”
A Student’s Job Done Out of Love and Respect
The orchestra has 65 slots with instruments that include violins, viola, and a cello, while the stage band, a smaller and more modern band, plays post-jazz and modern music. Alberts said, for both groups, and especially the stage band, he strives to honor young people’s interests while teaching concepts that students will encounter throughout their music career.
“I’m the leader of the band, but I also have a student leader of the band who gets to have days of rehearsal for them,” Alberts said. “I sit in the background, and I’m like, ‘Hey, you guys, here’s your objective for the day. You’ve got to plan out how to get there and figure it out.’ “
Alberts said that student engagement, regardless of the musical pathway taken, starts from the moment young people enter his room at the beginning of the school year.
“I want to sit down, and I want to talk to them…. to get to know them a little bit,” Alberts told The Informer. “In an orchestra, it’s a little different, because there’s 65 kids…and we can’t necessarily do what they want to do, but I do know that I have to pick music that you’re excited about learning, and then I get to sprinkle in the things that I know you need.”
For students like Zadie Hunt, Alberts’ music classes are still a good time, regardless of one’s skill level.
Zadie, a 12th grader at School Without Walls, learned digital music and tried her hand at guitar as an underclassman. She soon after found her niche as manager of the stage band and orchestra, noting she “loved the environment” that the space provided.
“I was always in awe of the stage band and orchestra, the songs that they would play, and how professional the group was in general,” Zadie told The Informer. “I thought that they didn’t get enough recognition in the school or in the D.C. community, so I wanted to fix that.”
Last school year, Zadie successfully petitioned Alberts for a chance to become manager of the stage band and orchestra. In that role, which she conceptualized on her own, she’s been at the forefront of efforts to increase the stage band and orchestra’s social media presence.
With Alberts as D.C. Teacher of the Year, Zadie said that the world will finally get a chance to see what she and other students have long known about, not only their music program, but the man who pioneered it.
“It’s recognition from the District and from the nation that Mr. Alberts is doing a good job and that our school is one of one and this community is also one of one,” Zadie said. “So it definitely does help a lot.”