Howard University alum Christopher O.J. Alberts (B.M.Ed ’04) was recently named as the 2026 D.C. Teacher of Year and credits the university in helping to shape him into the acclaimed educator he is today.  

Alberts, who graduated from Howard with a degree in music and secondary education, is the director of performing arts and a music educator at the School Without Walls High School, a public magnet school located in D.C.’s Foggy Bottom neighborhood. During an Oct. 16 event celebrating the school’s recent accolade of being the No. 1 ranked high school in D.C. by U.S. News and World Report, Alberts was surprised with the recognition, which comes with a $7,500 prize.  

“The students were performing, so I was occupied with trying to make sure that they had their best foot forward,” Alberts recalled from the day. “Then, all of a sudden, it took a left turn and turned into this ceremony for me. It was a little bit overwhelming at first, I was filled with lots of excitement and joy. Every emotion and feeling that you could think of in that moment is definitely what I was feeling.” 

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser presented Alberts with the award and shared during the event, “Mr. Alberts brings incredible creativity, leadership, and heart to his work, and he lifts up the entire School Without Walls community through music and the arts. We are so proud to celebrate Mr. Alberts, and we’re grateful for the passion he brings to School Without Walls every day.” 

From ‘The Yard’ to the Classroom 

Alberts has spent the last 17 years teaching at School Without Walls. He joined the school in 2008 after a teaching stint at the now closed Margaret Murray Washington Career Technical High School. During his time at School Without Walls, Alberts taught orchestra, jazz ensemble, stage band, general music, and digital music production. He’s played an instrumental role in growing the school’s music program.  

“When I started, Walls didn’t have an instrumental music program, and I was really excited to have the opportunity to build the program from scratch,” said Alberts. “I have a modern band program, which at the time was unique in D.C. public schools. The students are fantastic. They absolutely take every single curveball I throw at them. They let me challenge them. They show up and they challenge me in the best possible way.”  

Alberts, a four-time Grammy Music Educator Award nominee, shared that his digital music class offer students who aren’t trained instrumentalists with an opportunity to explore different musical avenues. The students use Soundtrap, a digital audio workstation, to make beats and loops in a similar way that producers create music, he explained.  

“You don't have to have a traditional education in music to know how to read, write, and notate music,” Alberts said. “You can access this on a very basic level with no experience at all with learning how to blend together different loops and beats. It allows kids who don’t play instruments to have access to music and to be able to do something different.” 

During his time at Howard, Alberts was a part of the university’s Showtime Marching Band playing the sousaphone and was also a member of the concert band as a euphonium player. Enrolling at Howard, however, wasn’t initially on Alberts’ radar while attending high school at the Detroit School of the Arts. He received early admittance into a university in Michigan along with a scholarship offer. However, after getting caught skipping a day of school during his senior year, his scholarship offer was rescinded. His former band director encouraged him to audition for Howard’s music program, which changed the trajectory of his life. Alberts was accepted into the university and awarded a Howard Capstone Scholarship.  

“It was the best mistake I've ever made in my life,” said Alberts. “I come from very humble beginnings. My parents didn't make a lot of money, and college was not even on my radar of things to do. Howard has such a great, rich history and culture of great thinkers and doers. When you come to Howard, you are in awe of being a part of that legacy. I know that’s very cliché to say, but it’s absolutely the truth. Standing on The Yard realizing that you are now a part of history hits every student at some point when they’re at Howard.” 

An Influential Educator 

Alberts shared how the university further deepened his passion for music education, saying that “the music department at Howard was a family all working in concert to make you the best musician that you can be.” He initially majored in chemical engineering, but after a brief time away from music he made the decision to switch his major to music education during his second semester.  

“It was absolutely the best decision I made for my career, which obviously took me down a completely different path,” said the educator. “Music is something that I feel like is a gateway to everything else — It touches everything. It allows you to be in any room and exist. It allows you to be yourself, to be creative, and to not be judged, but to think outside of the box.” 

As a Howard student, he became a member of the Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity (a fraternal society for music) and says that the brotherhood “prided ourselves on helping each other accomplish what we came there to accomplish.” Alberts is married to a fellow Howard alum and recently participated in the university’s 101st Homecoming festivities with his wife and two daughters. He shared that his eldest daughter, who is a junior in high school, aspires to follow in her parents’ footsteps in attending Howard, saying that “she wants to go there because of the legacy of Howard and what it offers our community.” 

Alberts also noted that as a music educator, he’s reframing people’s perception of what it means be a full-time musician.  

“I am a full-time musician as a music teacher,” he said. “I do perform when I’m standing in front of an orchestra. The orchestra is my instrument. When I’m conducting a jazz ensemble, the jazz ensemble is my instrument. I think that a lot of times people [think] that people like me who choose to do this with music as ‘you couldn’t cut it as a performer and therefore you're not the same type of musician.’ I don't think any musician you talk to would ever think that way because without the leaders of the bands, the conductors, the teachers, then where would they be?” 

In addition to his prize money, Alberts will receive an additional $5,000 to support professional development opportunities during his one-year term as the 2026 D.C. Teacher of the Year. Further, he is in the running for the 2026 National Teacher of the Year Award, which is administered by the Council of Chief State School Officers. 

The educator finds joy in being at the helm of his classroom, impacting students with music, one note at a time. He shared that being a Black educator specifically is important representation for students who come from similar cultural backgrounds.  

“I really want to be a difference-maker in students’ lives. As a Black man coming from Detroit, I didn’t see a lot of Black male teachers,” said Alberts. “It’s important for me to be in an urban setting where kids see somebody who looks like them, sounds like them, who came from where they came from, and someone who can relate to them and understand them. Music is just the vehicle that I use to do that.” 

Featured photo courtesy of the Office of Mayor Muriel Bowser.