Low-income schools can become great establishments of learning

Thank you all for supporting the New Leaders Giving Tuesday Campaign. Your donations support Emily, a high school principal in Baltimore, Maryland.

Emily began her education career with Teach For America in 2003 and taught English for three years at a high school in the area. She was then selected for the Baltimore City Mayoral Fellowship, where she took part in the Baltimore County Public School System’s (BCPSS) SchoolStat team, and went on to join the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) in D.C. Most recently, Emily returned to Baltimore as a staff developer and was responsible for her current high school’s English department as well as school-wide literacy professional development. She also completed the Emerging Leaders Program last year.

One of Emily’s proudest accomplishments is founding a summer SAT program for student-athletes called Brains & Brawn, which addresses the problem of college-caliber athletes that are unable to take advantage of their athletic ability due to poor grades and SAT scores. The 16 participants who completed the program averaged SAT score gains of 70 points with a maximum gain of 200 points, and all 16 gained acceptance to four-year universities.

Emily’s work at the district and state levels led her to believe that the most important position in education is the principal. Her ultimate goal is to prove that low-income schools can become great establishments of learning that foster high student achievement.