Manhattan Principal Salvador Fernandez Wins 3rd Annual Elizabeth Rohatyn Prize for Schools Where Teaching Matters

Teaching Matters awarded its 3rd Annual Elizabeth Rohatyn Prize for Schools Where Teaching Matters to Principal Salvador Fernandez at its 6th Principals’ Forum yesterday. He will take $15,000 back to his school, JHS 52 Inwood, in north Manhattan.

At the gathering of principals and other school leaders, Mr. Fernandez explained the philosophy of collaboration and teacher development that garnered him and his school the prize. He praised his staff, and he called the reflective process and cross-curricular sharing among them “empowering.”

Rose Kerr, previous Rohatyn winner, presented the award to Dr. Fernandez, singling out as an “exemplary practice” the educators’ portfolios instituted at the school. “We need to assess ourselves, professionally and pedagogically, to be truly effective,” she said.

The Rohatyn award is the culmination of a months-long winnowing process, with open nominations, a public vote to select five finalists, and then a winner chosen by a panel of independent judges.  This year, those judges included:

Fred Frelow, Program Officer, The Ford FoundationGeoffrey Gund, teacher at the Dalton SchoolRose Kerr, NYC principal and 2012 Rohatyn Prize winnerChad Vignola, Founding Director, the Literacy Design CollaborativePedro Silverio, former NYC student.

The Principals’ Forum also included a rousing speech by Professor Pedro Noguera, who addressed “Why Some Schools Make More Progress than Others – And What is thePrincipal’s Role in Making Progress Stick.”

For more about the prize, see http://www.teachingmatters.org/Rohatyn_Prize.

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