Danforth Student Wins Leadership Award

Catherine Brown, Danforth Cohort 25 student, was recognized at the May 16 Seattle Public School Board meeting as the winner of this year's Excellence in Educational Leadership Award. The University Council for Educational Administration (UCEA) gives this award to practicing school administrators who have made significant contributions to the improvement of administrator preparation. Dr. Margery Ginsberg, lead faculty of the Leadership for Learning program at the University of Washington, presented the award to Brown at the board meeting.

Click here to see a video of the board meeting. The award presentation begins around 3 minutes into the video.

Danforth Alum Wins Award for Leadership

Jill Hudson, Danforth Cohort 10 graduate and principal of Seattle’s Nathan Hale High School, was awarded the Thomas B. Foster Award for leadership during a surprise ceremony this morning. The annual award, sponsored by the Alliance for Education, comes with a $50,000 grant to the school, presented in the form of an oversized check. Hudson, in her third year at Nathan Hale, is the 10th recipient of the award, which goes to a Seattle Public Schools middle, K-8 or high school principal. The 1,100-student school is the first to win the award twice. In presenting the award, district officials cited Hudson’s leadership in school and district initiatives as well as Nathan Hale’s gains on last year’s standardized tests.

Click here to see the story in The Seattle Times.

Danforth Alum Wins 2011 Golden Apple Award for Principal of the Year

Dr. Jennifer Wiley, Danforth Cohort 7 alum and principal of Franklin High School in Seattle, won the 2011 Golden Apple Award for Principal of the Year. The Golden Apple Awards honors successful teaching models and programs among Washington state educators. Dr. Wiley believes in education as a tool to provide any individual access to a level playing field and the opportunity to prosper. As principal for eight years of a public high school serving the country’s most diverse zip code, she’s worked with staff to support "a campus free of second-class citizenship." In 2003, Franklin staff and community chose to de-track—doing away with an honors program for high-performing students only and allowing any student to aim for and achieve honors credit. Nearly nine in ten students from the class of 2009 reported heading to a two- or four-year college, and more than one in five graduating seniors were recently admitted to the University of Washington at a time of high admissions standards. Also a talented percussionist, Jennifer teaches a steel drum class for students with little or no music experience. "She can talk the kids’ language without trying to sound like them," says one colleague. KCTS 9 will be broadcasting this year's Golden Apple Awards on TV starting March 1.

New Leadership Positions for Cohort 23 Alum

We are pleased to announce new leadership placements for our Danforth 23 Alumni. Of the 28 members of our Spring 2011 graduating cohort, 19 have been placed in new leadership roles for the 2011-2012 school year. Placements include 6 principals; 11 assistant principals; and 2 other administrative leadership roles.

While final statistics are still pending for 2011 placement rates among graduates of Washington principal preparation programs, Danforth has consistently ranked top in the state.    View Cohort 23 Placements »

New LWSD Principals Bring Wealth of Experience and Excitement to Schools

  Two Danforth 23 Alum were featured in an article highlighting new principals
  in the Lake Washington School District.

  Read more about Karen Barker, principal of Emily Dickinson Elementary, and
  Kirsten McArdle, principal of Norman Rockwell Elementary.

Danforth Alum Receives Foster Award for Outstanding Leadership

The Alliance for Education and Seattle Public Schools announced that Jeff Clark (Cohort 12), principal of Denny International Middle School, is this year’s recipient of the Thomas B. Foster Award for Excellence for his outstanding leadership at the school.

The award is given to an exceptional secondary school principal and includes a $50,000 grant to support student success at the principal’s school. Clark, in his sixth year at Denny Middle, led the effort to bring an international program to his school, which includes classes in Mandarin Chinese, Arabic and Spanish. Under his leadership, Denny’s test scores are going up. Last year, Clark said, Denny improved more than any other middle school or K-8 in the district. Clark said he plans to use the $50,000 prize to buy one book for every student to recognize their hard work, to purchase musical instruments, and to start an endowment fund that can be used to help pay field-trip or other fees.

Read the Seattle Times article»

Principal News Publication

Justin Baeder, Danforth 19 Alum and principal of Olympic View Elementary School in Seattle, shares time management tips for school leaders. His article “Peak Productivity: Managing the Workload of Leadership,” featured on the cover of the Winter 2011 publication of The Principal News, provides principal and educational leaders with simple ideas on how to effectively organize and lead. In the article, he writes: “Without strategies for managing the workload that accompanies school leadership, the emergencies that arise every day—in addition to the onslaught of routine administrative work—can consume all of a principal’s time and energy, and ultimately lead to job dissatisfaction and turnover. Increasing the principal’s capacity to do leadership work can have a direct impact on the performance of the school.”

Check out another series of tips and tools from Baeder’s online article “Essential E-mail Practices for School Leaders."

Read Baeder's Education Week blog "On Performance."

New Principal

In June 2010, Danofrth 23 Alum Brian Patrick made news as the upcoming principal of of Methow Valley Elementary.

“I teach kindness and compassion – I used to teach chemistry and physics,” said Patrick, who was a science instructor before becoming an administrator. Before that, he was a geologist at the university level, but made his first career switch when his children were young and he found himself too busy with his work and research to be fully involved in family life. “It’s the best decision I ever made,” he said. Read the full article in Methow Valley News»

2010 Milken Educator Award

Kelly Aramaki, Danforth Cohort 15 Alum, won the $25,000 Milken Educator Award for Washington. The award, called the “Oscars of Teaching” by Teacher Magazine, exists to attract and reward outstanding K-12 teachers and education leaders. Aramaki, principal of John Stanford International School in Wallingford, is one of 55 educators nation-wide who is receiving the award. The Milken Educator Award, with no nomination or application procedure, is the largest teacher recognition program in the U.S. and was created to retain and attract the highest quality K-12 educators to the profession.

Read Seattle Times article»

Watch video of the award announcement»

Heart of Stone
Danforth Film Screening

In March 2010, director Beth Kruvant joined Danforth students for a screening and discussion of her new film, A Heart of Stone

More about the film»

Rigorous Opportunities for All
ACCESS, AVID's Educational Journal

Danforth student and AVID consultant Lauren Ramers (Cohort 22) illustrates how AVID is helping schools increase the number of students exposed to rigorous curriculum.
Read article»

20 Years of Danforth
Corbally Lecture & Danforth Reunion

This is the 20th year of the Danforth Educational Leadership Program at the University of Washington and it marks a major milestone for our shared work in preparing new leaders for Washington’s schools. As a part of the 20th year work, we are involved in a major revision process to improve all components of the program including the curriculum, the internship experience, and the advisors’ and mentors’ roles.

In honor of this milestone, alumni, students, and faculty joined together on March 20, 2008 for a reunion and lecture by Ed Taylor, UW's Vice Provost & Dean of Undergraduate Affairs. Highlights from the event and additional photos will be available soon.

Ferndale High Students Find Advocates
Grants pay 3 people to help kids pass WASL

"I walk with [the students] at lunch and ask them, ‘What’s getting in the way?’” O’Brien said. “Sometimes it’s family. Sometimes it’s a pencil. Sometimes it’s breakfast. Sometimes it’s health. We identify the barriers, then we brainstorm potential resources. Usually, the students know what those are."
Read article»

Shannon O'Brien
Cohort 19

Seattle Principal Models Excellence in Education

Richard Ito (Danforth 4, '92) is invested in preparing a new generation of principals for success. Read more»

Danforth 18 New Positions

Congratulations to Danforth 18 Alum! Click here to see some of their new positions. Read more»

Schools Win Apple Awards worth $25,000

Brian Hutchison, Danforth 13 Alum, is principal of one of 10 schools to win the Apple Award.

Read article»

Danforth Alums Featured in The Principal News

Read articles by Danforth Alums Chris Wyatt and Patricia Newton in the Spring 2006 issue of The Principal News, as well as a story about Danforth Alum Eric Dejong being selected Washington State Middle Level Principal of the Year.

Read article»

"Courageous Conversations"

Jacob Ellis, Danforth 18 student, wrote an article for the National Education Association on how his school is dealing with unfair treatment of minority students.

Read article»

Danforth Graduate Featured in Local Korean Newspaper

Rebekah Kim, Danforth 17 Graduate and Principal at Marvista Elementary

The article discusses Kim's core values being diversity and equity. In it, she states that she'd like to tell Korean parents to "encourage your child to be successful in all that they do. Don't focus so much on the math and science only in order to get them into a career as a doctor, lawyer or dentist." Learn more about Kim's principalship.»

"Breathing Life into Our Schools"

Jason Kerber, Danforth 18 student, wrote an article for the New Horizons for Learning website on creating sustainable, self-renewing change in school systems.

Read article»

Danforth Student Wins Golden Apple Award

Wayne Greer, a student in the Danforth 18 cohort, was awarded the KCTS-TV Golden Apple award, which honors excellence in education in Washington state.

Read article»

Also read this Seattle Times Article about Greer's school: T.T. Minor Elementary in Seattle

Seattle School Named #1 In Nation

Rebecca Goertzel, a student in the Danforth 18 cohort, is interning at John Stanford International School in Seattle. The school was recently recognized as the top elementary school in the nation.

Read article»

College of Education Alumni News Features Ed Noh

Ed Noh is happy to talk about what he’s learned in his first year as principal at Seattle’s Lawton Elementary. Just don’t plan on having the conversation in his office . . .
Read article»

Seattle Times Article Features Danforth Students

On September 8, 2004, the Seattle Times ran an article entitled, "Taught to be principals: new principals join students returning to school" that featured Danforth students. Read article»