Piedmont Lakes MIddle School Principal graduates

Piedmont Lakes Middle School Principal, E. Jerome Thompson, completes prestigious national leadership program

If you’re going to teach children to be lifelong learners it’s important to be one yourself.

E. Jerome Thompson

This week, Orange County Public Schools celebrates ten principals who graduated from the National Institute for School Leadership’s (NISL) Executive Development Program (EDP) as part of a multistate effort to increase school leader effectiveness and improve student learning.

The National Institute for School Leadership’s Executive Development Program is now the most widely used, rigorous school leadership development program in the country with some 10,000 school leaders trained across 27 states. Multiple research studies have shown that students in schools led by NISL-trained leaders outperformed their peers on state tests in both math and reading.

The following principals are now graduates of the program:

• Gotha Middle School – Patrice Knowles
• Union Park Middle School – Melanie May
• Bridgewater Middle School – Lisa James
• Lee Middle School – Cynthia Haupt
• Chain of Lakes Middle School – Ron Anderson
• Odyssey Middle School – Ann Hembrook
• Sunset Park Elementary School -Janet Bittick
• Sun Ridge Middle School - Patricia Bowen-Painter
• Discovery Middle School - Gloria Fernandez
• Piedmont Lakes Middle School - E. Jerome Thompson

Because of NISL’s EDP track record of success, the U.S. Department of Education selected it for a “gold standard” study of implementation on a multistate scale. The $12 million U.S. Department of Education Investing in Innovation (i3) validation grant, along with funds from the Wallace Foundation, is enabling some 900 principals from California, Florida and Mississippi to enroll in NISL’s fifteen-month program. In addition to participating in NISL’s EDP and on-site coaching that many principals are receiving during their training, leaders in all three states are being trained to deliver the NISL program to build and strengthen school leadership statewide for years to come.

The National Institute for School Leadership is a program of the National Center on Education and the Economy. For more information visit NISL at www.NISL.org.