 Irma Elizabeth JohnsonDallas F. Nicholas Sr. Elementary School Baltimore City Public School System Baltimore, Maryland ijohnson@bcps.k12.md.us Creating a culture that promotes professional development and collaboration among staff in the urban school that Irma Johnson has headed for the past decade “was pivotal in the movement of teachers from good to great,” she says. Dallas F. Nicholas Sr. Elementary serves a diverse, largely poor population of 340 pre-K-5 students. Johnson ended teachers’ isolation by creating opportunities for collegial endeavors. She also spearheaded numerous school partnerships with area businesses, government agencies, civic and social service organizations, and higher education institutions to support students and staff. Under Johnson’s leadership, three universities have boosted students’ learning by providing tutoring and enrichment classes. A school partnership with a local retirement community that supplies classroom volunteers has become a model for inner-city schools on using senior citizens as school resources. For the past three years, Johnson’s school has received state Board of Education awards for outstanding academic achievement, as students’ scores on state tests exceeded the city school system’s averages in reading and mathematics and statewide averages in mathematics for two grades. In 2002, the school received a city school system award for its overall progress in school improvement efforts, and Johnson was recognized by a city newspaper as the “Best Public School Principal.” She holds a B.S. from the University of Maryland at College Park and an M.Ed. from Coppin State University in Maryland.
Rosalie Tashjian turned a school that once performed poorly on state tests into a highly effective learning community by tapping individual and collective strengths. “One of the hallmarks of this learning community,” says Tashjian of her school, “is the successful use of collective wisdom.” Since 1993, Tashjian has been principal of Francis J. Muraco Elementary, which currently enrolls 367 students. When the school began participating in yearly state academic assessments in 1998, its students’ performance ranked well below other district elementary schools and in the lower half of schools in its state. Tashjian led the suburban K-5 school to reorganize staff and other resources, reassess the curriculum, and revamp the school schedule to better meet students’ needs. The staff ’s efforts to make data-driven decisions to ensure effective teaching and commitment to each student’s success greatly improved school achievement. For the past five years, Tashjian’s school has consistently ranked among the highest scoring schools in Massachusetts on statewide assessments. In 2005, Boston Magazine called it the “Top Public Elementary School in Boston and Its Suburbs.” Tashjian has effectively balanced management and leadership roles as a principal. In addition to supporting adult learning in her school, she received national certification as a mentor to other principals. She has a B.A. from the University of Massachusetts at Boston and an M.Ed. from Boston College.
“I know all of my students by first and last name, greet them each morning as they get off the bus, and visit with them in hallways and lunch times,” says Martha Szymanski. She has been principal since 1993 of Millside Elementary, where she has created a safe, positive environment so that students can learn to the best of their abilities. Because of the personalized attention that Szymanski shows the 292 K-5 students at her rural school, she says they are respectful, know her expectations, and “want to make me proud of them socially and academically.” Szymanski also is familiar with most of her students’ parents, who include former students she once served as a teacher. Treating students’ parents as an extension of her own family, she says, has helped them feel welcome and comfortable as classroom volunteers in her school. Szymanski credits the dedicated staff and up-to-date curriculum at Millside Elementary for the school’s academic success. The site is a school of choice for more than 70 students. Last year, 100 percent of fifth graders without disabilities met or exceeded state standards for their performance on math, reading, writing, and science assessments. Szymanksi previously served for three years as principal of two other elementary schools in the same district. She earned a B.S. and an M.A. from Central Michigan University.
By developing teacher leaders at the elementary school she heads, Jolene Landwer has fostered a highly successful team effort. Her school was the only one in the state to receive in the same year both national recognition as a 2005 Blue Ribbon School and the “School of Excellence” honor bestowed by the Minnesota Elementary School Principals Association. “I am so proud of my team members,” says Landwer. “They are willing to step out on their growing edge knowing that I will be there to support and encourage them.” As principal since 1993 of the Greenway Elementary Schools, Landwer leads two sites—Marble Elementary and Vandyke Elementary—one housing early childhood programs for 200 children from infancy through age 5, and the other housing 520 K-4 students. Landwer also serves as her district’s coordinator of title and testing programs. To ensure kindergarten readiness among young students, for eight years Landwer has maintained an educational outreach effort called Project Read, with activities designed to educate students, parents, and community members about the importance of reading to infants and preschoolers. Supported by a comprehensive school reform grant, Landwer has led teachers to revamp reading instruction to better meet students’ differing needs. Landwer holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Mankato State University in Minnesota.
In 10 years as an elementary school administrator, Roma Windham Morris has been driven to expect as much from herself as she expects from the students, teachers, and parents in the three school communities she has headed. She says, “I expect to inspire students to learn and grow; teachers to become better equipped for effective instruction, assessments, and professional conversations with their peers; and parents to realize that they have the power to begin a pathway of unending success!” As principal since 2006 of Pearl Lower Elementary, an urban school serving 640 students in grades K-1, Windham Morris encourages parental involvement in her belief that “the highest degree of achievement can be attained with parental support.” At her previous school, she led a successful effort to earn and maintain the highest accreditation level issued by the state education department. The school also was recognized by the Mississippi Arts Commission as a model for arts education. Throughout her career, Windham Morris has made it a priority to offer high-quality professional development opportunities not only for school staff but for parents in the school community and educators in surrounding schools. She earned a B.Ed. from the University of Southern Mississippi, an M.Ed. from William Carey University in Mississippi, and an Ed.D. from Mississippi State University. |
Rosalie M. Tashjian
Martha A. Szymanski
Jolene Marie Jans Landwer
Roma Windham Morris