Cleveland HS Principal Wins Educational Leadership Award

Margery Ginsberg, left, with Princess Shareef

Cleveland High School principal Princess Shareef was awarded the UCEA Excellence in Educational Leadership Award. Nominated by UW College of Education faculty, Shareef was recognized for significant contributions to leadership preparation. 

Through a strong partnership with the University of Washington, Seattle's Cleveland High School serves as a common learning ground for school staff and 12 UW graduate students—including a Danforth intern; several Teacher Education Program candidates; and students from the Leadership for Learning, Master in Instructional Leadership, and Ph.D. programs in the College of Education—as well as undergraduate students.

The award was presented to Shareef at the April 21 Seattle School Board meeting by Margery Ginsberg, associate professor in the area of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies and Leadership for Learning program faculty.  Dr Ginsberg also directs the UW Center for Action, Inquiry, and Motivation (AIM Center), which supports Cleveland High School as a professional learning laboratory for teachers and leaders.

Below, are Ginsberg’s comments on Shareef’s leadership in education. 

It is an honor to be here tonight to present Princess Shareef, the principal of Cleveland High
School, with the Excellence in Educational Leadership Award. This award, which I am presenting
on behalf of the leadership programs in the UW College of Education, recognizes a practicing school administrator who has made a significant contribution to leadership preparation.

At Cleveland High School, educators are guided by instructional ideals that they refer to as the
“4R’s” —relationships, relevance, rigor, results. In presenting this honor, I would like to speak to leadership qualities we could call—for our purposes—the 3C’s. Princess Shareef is a leader who connects the dots, carries a message with integrity and has the courage to commit.

“Connecting the dots” means that she keeps all of us focused and working in complementary
ways to serve student learning. At Cleveland there are hundreds of learners—including approximately 125 community partners and college students from several different programs.

An example of what I mean by “carrying a message with integrity” is Princess Shareef’s implementation of the STEM Initiative. Her advocacy for implementing a significant STEM
initiative keeps student diversity—of every sort—up front and center.

I’ll conclude with a final comment about Princess Shareef’s courage to commit—in this case,
to partnerships that chart new territory. An example of this is the AIM Center which includes support for deepening and regularly applying insights from home visits, data and lesson studies. Large institutions such as universities and urban school districts, have a long history—with all of the tensions that go along with working together and separately to protect the ideals of public education.  Princess isn’t daunted by this and—even better—believes in the potential of shared knowledge. 

I have been fortunate to be a firsthand participant and observer as Princess Shareef connects
the dots, carries a message and courageously commits to partnerships where everyone can contribute and learn.

It is a genuine privilege to stand here and acknowledge your leadership and all of the learning
—for students and adults—that lies ahead.