Philly's School Chief Takes Home Top Honors

Philly's School Chief Takes Home Top Honors

Philadelphia School District's superintendent, Arlene Ackerman, was named the top urban school leader Thursday, reports The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Ackerman has led Philadelphia's schools for more than two years and has focused her efforts on raising test scores, involving parents and improving performance management for students.

The Richard R. Green Award is awarded annually to superintendents who've made outstanding contributions to urban education. Michael Cassely, the executive director of the Council of Great City Schools, the group that presented the award, said the group was impressed by Ackerman's Imagine 2014 proposal, an innovative five-year plan for school reform that focuses on giving money to the most underserved schools.

He said,

"Arlene Ackerman is one of the best big-city school superintendents in the country, and is most worthy of the nation's highest individual award in urban education...She is smart, dedicated, innovative, effective, and completely committed to our urban schoolchildren."

Ackerman is controversial for some Philadelphians, based on the reported $65,000 bonus Ackerman earned last year, on top of her $338,000 salary.

Read more about the honor at The Philadelphia Inquirer.

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