Fordham University’s Graduate School of Education held its ninth annual National Principals Leadership Institute (NPLI) from July 8 through 15, at which the institute announced its 2006 School Change Awards. The six schools recognized were: Roosevelt Elementary School, Long Beach, Calif.; Heather Hills Elementary School, Indianapolis, Ind.; Oil City Elementary School, Oil City, La.; Brockton High School, Brockton, Mass.; Chicora Elementary School, North Charleston, S.C.; and Brighton High School, Brighton, Tenn. The awards are conducted and co-sponsored by the American Association of School Administrators (AASA), Fordham’s Graduate School of Education and Pearson Education.
“Fordham’s NPLI provides thought-provoking presentations, and rich networking and collaboration opportunities,” said Stacy Allison, world-class mountaineer and business leader, who was one of NPLI’s keynote speakers this year. “This institute helps participants discover usable solutions to the challenges facing their schools.”
Award winners are chosen from schools that have dramatically improved students’ academic performance. The award comes with a $5,000 grant funded by Pearson Education, and subsidized attendance for the schools’ principals at NPLI. The winning schools participate in a national research project on how schools achieve significant improvements, headed by the institute’s director, Lew Smith, Ed.D., associate professor of education at Fordham. Smith’s research will be published by Corwin Press in 2007.
Since 1998, more than 1,500 educators from 39 states, the Virgin Islands, Canada and China, have attended NPLI. Participants break into teams for a week long problem-solving exercise, then present their results orally and as a written report to panels of educators.
