Free Webinar: Improving Schools: What Principals Need -- Part 2

Wednesday, March 23, 2011 - 4:00pm

Join Senior Writer Karin Chenoweth for the fourth installment of The Education Trust's Leadership Webinar Series on Wednesday, March 23 at 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time (register here). Karin's guest will be Diane Scricca, who will talk about what help from districts and states principals need to turn schools around.

Diane Scricca understands how to improve a school. When she became principal of Elmont Memorial Junior-Senior High School in 1993, the Nassau County, New York school was undistinguished and bifurcated, with white students filling the Advanced Placement classes and black students the below-level classes. By the time she left, the below-level “modified” classes had been eliminated, the number of Advanced Placement classes had doubled, and the graduation rate was 95 percent. Under the leadership of John Capozzi, who originally had been hired by Scricca, Elmont continues to have one of the highest graduation rates in the state—and its primarily African-American and Latino students go on to higher education, most of them to four-year colleges.

Today, after having served both as an assistant superintendent and as a superintendent, Scricca is a professor of educational leadership at Mercy College, and has led a team into some of New York City’s persistently low-performing schools to identify problems and develop solutions. She also serves as a consultant to principals and districts in instructional supervision.

Scricca will talk about what it takes to dramatically improve schools, and also about the kind of help and support principals need from their districts and states.

Joining the conversation to help put the experience of Dr. Scricca into a broader perspective will be Dr. Michael Knapp, professor of educational leadership at the University of Washington. Dr. Knapp is a leading researcher in the field of school leadership, and his work has helped to confirm principals’ vital need for district support.

Because of the generous support of The Wallace Foundation, The Education Trust is able to offer this webinar free of charge. The Wallace Foundation has underwritten some of the foundational research that establishes the crucial role of school leadership and district and state support of school leaders. To see some of it, go to The Wallace Foundation's Knowledge Center.

Listen to the audio for previous webinars in this series by clicking on the links below.

How Collaboration Turned One School Around (September 23, 2010)
Guests: Agnes “Terri” Tomlinson, principal of Alabama’s George Hall Elementary; Dr. Kenneth Leithwood, professor of educational leadership and policy at the University of Toronto.
Download the audio in mp3 format.

Making Sure All Students Learn: The Role of Principals, Districts, and State Leaders (October 21, 2010)
Guests: Arelis Díaz, assistant superintendent of curriculum/instruction and human resources for Michigan’s Godwin Heights Public Schools; Dr. Bradley Portin, director of the Education program at the University of Washington Bothell.
Download the audio in mp3 format.

Improving Schools – What Principals Need, Part 1 (February 23, 2011)
Guests: Ricardo Esparza, former principal of Washington’s Granger High School; Dr. Kyla Wahlstrom, director of the Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement
Stream the audio (enter login information to play).

Improving Schools – What Principals Need, Part 2 (March 23, 2011)
Guests: Diane Scricca, former principal of New York’s Elmont Memorial Junior-Senior High School; Michael Knapp, professor of educational leadership at the University of Washington.
Stream the audio (enter login information to play).