The New Leaders for New Schools principal-training program in Chicago has won a prestigious award from Harvard University.
The program, which recruits and trains people to serve as principals in high-poverty schools in the city, is one of six winners of the 2009 Innovations in American Government Awards. The winners, selected by the Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, were announced last week.
New Leaders works in partnership with 12 urban districts, including Chicago, where 125 graduates of the program are leading schools. In an ongoing study of the program, researchers at the RANDCorp. have found that 88 percent of high schools led by a New Leaders principal had graduation rates higher than those of their school district.
