Ackerman honored for urban school leadership
by Dale Mezzacappa on Oct 22 2010
Is Arlene Ackerman the best urban school superintendent in America?
The Council of the Great City Schools has just awarded her that status at its annual conference in Tampa, FL Thursday evening.
In voting her the prize, considered the top honor in the country for urban education leadership, the citation noted her reform blueprint, Imagine 2014, her plan to increase resources to the neediest schools through weighted student funding,the Renaissance Schools turnaround initiative, and the creation of Parent University to increase community engagement.
It also mentioned that for the first time, more than half the city's school childrenscored proficient or better on state tests.
Ackerman won "because of her leadership and commitment to urban kids, and her