Carl Harris, deputy assistant secretary of Elementary and Secondary Education, will participate in the National Principals Leadership Institute (NPLI) and its Panasonic National School Change Awards (PNSCA) ceremony at 10:15 a.m. Monday, July 11, in New York City. Harris will congratulate the six winners of the award, which honors schools that have seen dramatic transformation in student achievement and school climate. He also will discuss the challenges and rewards of school turnaround and provide information on the Department’s support for turnaround schools through its School Improvement Grants program.
School Improvement Grants are part of the $3.5 billion that states received last year to turn around its lowest-performing schools. Funds were distributed by formula to states, and states then allowed school districts to compete for the grants. In order for a school district to apply for the funds, it had to have a state-identified “persistently lowest achieving” school—one that had failed to meet state standards for two consecutive years.
Since 1998, NPLI has dedicated itself to defining the purpose of school. The organization provides leadership experience for more than 3,000 educational leaders from 45 states, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and three Canadian provinces. It has three divisions—NPLI, the Institute; PNSCA, the change awards program; and the Change Leadership Initiative, which helps districts with school transformation.