In 1988, Sarah D. Barder endowed a California educator recognition program to be administered by the Center for Talented Youth at Johns Hopkins University. The purpose of the program is to recognize excellence in teachers as identified by students and excellence in administrators as identified by teachers. Through a separate gift, Ms. Barder made possible the extension of this recognition program to outstanding teachers and administrators in Nevada. Maryland educators are sponsored by other donors.

Each year, students in grades six through twelve who live in California, Nevada, and Maryland and who attended a CTY summer program or enrolled in a CTYOnline program the previous year are invited to nominate a teacher for recognition as an outstanding educator. These nominated teachers are then invited to apply as an SDB fellow. A committee of CTY educators reviews the applications and selects ten to fifteen teachers for recognition.

Subsequently, selected teachers are invited to nominate administrators who have provided an educational climate in which teachers can perform at their best. The nominated administrators are then invited to apply as an SDB fellow. The same CTY committee reviews these nominations and identifies several administrators for recognition.

New fellows meet for an orientation and then join veteran fellows for the annual conference. Interest from the SDB endowment covers the cost of accommodations and travel for new fellows and accommodations for veteran fellows. The annual conference features speakers on a variety of timely educational topics. Many fellows use the annual conference to meet professional development goals. They also enjoy the camaraderie that has marked the program from its beginning.

One trait that the fellows have in common is that they have challenged a student or colleague at a level commensurate with academic and professional talent. It is this appropriate challenge that is the hallmark of CTY and the SDB program.

Over three hundred and fifty outstanding teachers and administrators have been honored in the twenty years of the SDB program.