Federal

McGraw Prize to Be Awarded to Promoters Of International Education

By Vaishali Honawar — February 27, 2007 2 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

A prestigious award that honors “pioneers” in education will this year focus for the first time on individuals working to prepare global leaders for the future.

The $25,000 Harold W. McGraw Jr. Prize in Education is awarded annually to three people who have worked to improve education at the local, state, or national level.

Because this year marks the award’s 20th anniversary, its sponsor, the McGraw-Hill Cos., wanted to take the opportunity to look forward, said Eileen Gabrielle, the vice president for corporate affairs for the New York City-based company.

Get more information about the competition from the McGraw-Hill Cos.

In recent years, federal and state leaders have often called for preparing American students to face the challenges of a globalized economy. Books such as Thomas L. Friedman’s The World Is Flat talk about a leveling of the playing fields between industrial and emerging countries.

Ms. Gabrielle pointed to Mr. Friedman’s best-seller as an example of why McGraw-Hill believes the time is right to focus on leaders who are preparing students for such a change.

“Globalization as a topic has increasingly been in the public eye,” she said.

This year’s potential honorees could be, for instance, principals of schools who develop sister-school relationships in other countries, or of new schools with a focus on international education, language, and culture, Ms. Gabrielle said.

She added that an award could potentially be shared by someone in the United States and his or her international partner.

Programs With Results

The awards will be announced Sept. 25 in New York City. Honorees are chosen by a panel of judges that includes academics and officials from education foundations, among others.

Individuals who are considered have to be involved in successful programs, Ms. Gabrielle said. “We look for promising programs and leaders who are driving them, but also programs that have been here long enough,” she said. “It can’t just be a good idea, but has to be achieving results.”

Past recipients of the prize include former U.S. Secretaries of Education Richard W. Riley and Rod Paige, and Wendy Kopp, the founder of Teach For America.

One of last year’s recipients was Norman R. Augustine, the former chairman of the Lockheed Martin Corp. and the chairman of the National Academies’ Committee on Prospering in the Global Economy of the 21st Century, that prepared a 2005 report urging the federal government to shore up U.S. leadership in science and technology.

The report, “Rising Above the Gathering Storm,” predicted that the United States would lose high-quality jobs to other nations, unless the country produced more top-notch scientists, mathematicians, and engineers.

Related Tags:

A version of this article appeared in the February 28, 2007 edition of Education Week as McGraw Prize to Be Awarded to Promoters of International Education

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Student Well-Being Webinar
The Ripple Effect: Mental Health & Student Outcomes
Learn how student mental health impacts outcomes—and how to use that data to support your school’s IEP funding strategy.
Content provided by Huddle Up
Artificial Intelligence K-12 Essentials Forum How AI Use Is Expanding in K-12 Schools
Join this free virtual event to explore how AI technology is—and is not—improving K-12 teaching and learning.
Federal Webinar The Trump Budget and Schools: Subscriber Exclusive Quick Hit
EdWeek subscribers, join this 30-minute webinar to find out what the latest federal policy changes mean for K-12 education.

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

Federal What Is 'Illegal DEI?' Trump Admin.'s School Probes Start to Paint a Picture
Department probes focused on rooting out DEI have mostly targeted colleges. But the Trump administration is also looking toward K-12.
7 min read
Conceptual image of diversity.
iam2mai/iStock/Getty
Federal Judge Reverses Ed. Dept.'s Abrupt End to States' Time to Spend COVID Relief
The order comes after Education Secretary Linda McMahon effectively canceled more than $1 billion in remaining pandemic relief funding.
4 min read
Conceptual illustration of a coin in the top section of an hour glass
Dumitru Ochievschi/iStock/Getty
Federal Opinion Trump's Barrage of Executive Orders for Education: How Significant Are They?
A Washington insider discusses the immediate—and long-term—implications of the administration's education goals.
8 min read
The United States Capitol building as a bookcase filled with red, white, and blue policy books in a Washington DC landscape.
Luca D'Urbino for Education Week
Federal Judge Temporarily Blocks Trump Admin. From Dismantling Library Services Agency
The president referred to the agency as "unnecessary" in a March executive order, after which it started winding down many operations.
2 min read
President Donald Trump arrives at Tuscaloosa National Airport, Thursday, May 1, 2025, in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
President Donald Trump arrives at Tuscaloosa National Airport, Thursday, May 1, 2025, in Tuscaloosa, Ala. A federal judge blocked the president's attempt to dismantle the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP