The National Association of Secondary School Principals named finalists for its 2024 Principal of the Year Award Thursday, highlighting three school leaders for their work promoting equity, child well-being, and academic excellence.
The finalists are Sham Bevel, principal of the Bayside Sixth Grade Campus in Virginia Beach, Va.; Andrew Farley, principal of Brookfield East High School in Brookfield, Wis.; and Kimberly Winterbottom, principal of Marley Middle School in Glen Burnie, Md.
The NASSP will name the winner Oct. 20.
The three finalists鈥� stories show that school leaders don鈥檛 have to make a binary choice between promoting academic success and supporting children鈥檚 social and emotional development, said NASSP CEO Ronn Nozoe.
鈥淚t鈥檚 absolutely important that those two things are connected and they work hand-in-hand together,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not one or the other. Test scores are an important measure and so is well-being.鈥�
Sham Bevel
Bevel, who has been in her role since 2021, sought to make her Title I school more welcoming by organizing students into smaller learning communities, giving teachers strategies to individualize lessons, and hold outreach events like a 鈥減arent prom.鈥�
An increase in 6th-grade student test scores is attributed to Bevel鈥檚 comprehensive literacy strategy, which incorporates the skills across subject areas.
Andrew Farley
Farley, who has been in his current role since 2013, has received national recognition for his efforts to close the achievement gap at Brookfield East High School, which has been named Wisconsin鈥檚 top public high school for four consecutive years. NASSP noted Farley鈥檚 focus on whole-child strategies. His school was the first in the state to launch a 鈥淗ope Squad,鈥� through which student leaders promote wellness and teach students to recognize and respond to peers鈥� mental health concerns.
Farley has also encouraged broad participation in advanced coursework: 99 percent of the high school鈥檚 2022 graduates took a college credit-bearing course.
Kimberly Winterbottom
Winterbottom, in her 9th year leading Marley Middle School, helped improved academics through systemic changes and support teachers鈥� professional growth.
At the beginning of her tenure, Marley was the lowest ranked middle school in the county. According to the 2022-23 state state tests, students now outperform 16 of the county鈥檚 19 middle schools in math. 69传媒 scores have also increased significantly under Winterbottom鈥檚 leadership, and discipline referral rates have dropped to some of the lowest in the county, the NASSP noted.
The finalists were selected from a pool of state-level middle school and high school principals of the year.
As the nation鈥檚 schools face the dual challenge of a divisive political moment and the hard work of academic recovery, it鈥檚 important to highlight the daily work of school leaders, who 鈥渁re giving whatever it is they鈥檝e got in the tank鈥� to support students and their families, Nozoe said.
