Meet the World Traveling Teacher
Who's On a Mission For Better Education

Keith Ballard is a 27-year veteran public school educator who has taught all grade levels from K-12. He is a graduate of Arizona State University, where he received a B.S. in Music Education and Public Relations. Keith received his M.Ed. - Administration at San Diego State University. He is a teacher at Southwest Middle School, a high-poverty school located a few minutes from the San Diego International border with Tijuana, Mexico.

Keith has received more than 25 teaching awards during his career as an educator, including being named a California Music Educator of the Year, ABC News “10 Leadership Award Winner, Congressional Outstanding Educator Award recipient, and received a Milken National Educator Award, dubbed the “Oscars of Teaching,” which included a cash award of $25,000. Keith was inducted into both the Arizona State University Hall of Fame and the Mesa Community College Hall of Fame. His classroom program was honored with the California “Golden Bell Award” by the California School Board Association, considered the highest honor that a school program can be awarded in California.

Keith’s innovative classroom programs have been featured in the U.S. media more than 80 times, including Deborah Norville with Inside Edition, NBC Today Show, Donny & Marie Show, and in a documentary for National Public Television (PBS). His students have performed for President Bush, President Clinton, two California Governors, two U.S. Congressmen, and other celebrities.

Keith is a researcher of Comparative K-12 International Educational Systems. To date, he has visited more than 175 K-12 schools throughout China, India, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, Vietnam, South Korea, Germany, Belgium, Lichtenstein, Switzerland, Netherlands, Poland, Finland, Estonia, Ireland, Slovenia, New Zealand, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Thailand, Peru, and Kazakhstan. Keith is the first K-12 educator in the world on record to visit schools in each of the top 15 PISA educational countries in the world. He is currently writing his book: Stealing from the World’s Best Schools: What One Teacher Learned by Visiting Countries that are Doing Education Right. When his book is published, Keith will complete more than 120 TV and radio interviews across the U.S.

Keith has been a speaker at local, regional, state, and national educational conferences. In 2012, during his seven-week summer break, Keith completed more than 45 television and radio interviews across the United States talking about his educational project on NBC, ABC, CBS, CW, FOX, PBS, and NPR. More than 700 videos of his school visits can be viewed on his YouTube channel: Educator Keith Ballard

Keith leads by example and believes that it is essential to take risks both in and outside of the classroom. He has completed the Alcatraz Swim across San Francisco Bay; rock climbed the famous “El Captain” in Yosemite, motorcycled thousands of miles throughout Mexico & the U.S., and successfully summited numerous mountains and volcanoes throughout North & South America. Keith completed an 18-day high altitude mountain expedition where he summited the highest mountain in the world outside of the Himalayas “Mt. Aconcagua” in South America. He was a certified as a PADI – Scuba Diver at age 13, and has dived all over the world, including cave diving in Southern Mexico. In 2014, Keith traveled inside North Korea for six days where he visited schools there. He has also attended four primitive survival schools including the famous JEST (Jungle Environmental Survival Training) school in the Philippines, where he spent three weeks living and surviving in the harsh environment of the jungle. Most recently, in September 2020, Keith completed his AFF Class-A certification, and is now a licensed Skydiver.” Keith even received an invitation to appear of the Discovery Channel “Naked & Afraid” TV show in 2018 but could not accept the offer due to working as a middle school teacher. Keith has a tentative offer to do the show in the Spring-2022 after he retires.

Keith has traveled in 41 countries, including extensive travel throughout Mexico, Central America, South America, Europe, Central Asia, and Asia. He is a Spanish speaker and has lived in Puerto Rico, Mexico and Colombia.