Four educators were awarded the Harold W. McGraw Jr. Prize in Education last week. Established in 1988, the annual prize is awarded by the New York City- based McGraw-Hill Cos. Each honoree receives $25,000. This year’s winners are:
Geoffrey Canada, the president and chief executive officer of the New York City-based Harlem Children’s Zone Inc. In 1997, Mr. Canada, 52, started the Harlem Children’s Zone Project, which provides a broad range of educational and social services to poor children and their families in that section of the city.
Janet E. Lieberman, who designed the first “middle college high school,” a public high school-college collaborative model to help students at risk of academic failure graduate from school and attend college. Ms. Lieberman, 82, now serves as a special assistant to the president of LaGuardia Community College in New York City, where the original middle college high school is based. There are 24 others around the country.
Cecilia L. Cunningham, 56, the founder and director of the Middle College National Consortium. The consortium, started more than 10 years ago and also based at LaGuardia Community College, provides professional development for educators at middle college high schools.
Robert P. Moses, 69, a civil rights activist and math educator who created the Cambridge, Mass.-based Algebra Project Inc. The initiative helps prepare middle school students for 8th grade algebra and more advanced high school math classes.
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