Education

People in the News

February 06, 2002 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Three educators who share the goal of closing the achievement gap between children from poor families and their wealthier peers have been named winners of the prestigious Harold W. McGraw Jr. Prize in Education.

Carl A. Cohn, Mary Catherine Swanson, and Freeman Hrabowski were honored as the 2001 recipients of the prize.

Mr. Cohn, 56, plans to retire this year after 10 years as the superintendent of the 96,000-student Long Beach Unified School District in Long Beach, Calif. Under his leadership, the district instituted a number of widely watched programs, such as requiring student uniforms in grades K-8, sending struggling students to a mandatory summer school, and creating a middle school of single-sex classes. Mr. Cohn intends to step down this summer to pursue a college teaching career at the nearby University of Southern California.

Ms. Swanson, 57, is the executive director of Advancement Via Individual Determination, or AVID, a San Diego-based nonprofit organization that seeks to raise the achievement of students who are having difficulty getting at least C’s on their report cards. Founded in the 1980s, the program serves about 65,000 students nationwide.

Mr. Hrabowski, 51, is the president of the 10,500-student University of Maryland campus in Baltimore County. In 1988, he founded the campus’s Meyerhoff Scholars program, which offers opportunities in science, engineering, and mathematics to minority college students.

Created in 1988, the McGraw education prize is given annually by the New York City-based McGraw-Hill Cos. Each winner receives $25,000.

—Marianne Hurst

Send contributions to People in the News, Education Week, 6935 Arlington Road, Suite 100, Bethesda, MD 20814; fax: (301) 280-3200; e-mail: mhurst@ epe.org. Photographs are welcome but cannot be returned.

A version of this article appeared in the February 06, 2002 edition of Education Week

Events

Teaching Profession K-12 Essentials Forum New Insights Into the Teaching Profession
Join this free virtual event to get exclusive insights from Education Week's State of Teaching project.
Jobs Virtual Career Fair for Teachers and K-12 Staff
Find teaching jobs and K-12 education jubs at the EdWeek Top School Jobs virtual career fair.
Mathematics K-12 Essentials Forum Helping Students Succeed in Math

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Education Quiz What is a Project 2025 Author Doing at the Education Department? Take This Weekly Quiz
Test your knowledge on the latest news and trends in education.
1 min read
Education Briefly Stated: June 11, 2025
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
5 min read
Education Quiz What Is the #1 Factor Boosting Students' STEM Motivation? Take This Weekly Quiz
Test your knowledge on the latest news and trends in education.
1 min read
Education Briefly Stated: June 4, 2025
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
8 min read