There is no question that Teaching Matters. For this reason, we are awarding the third annual Elizabeth Rohatyn Prize to a school leader who is advancing teacher capacity and effectiveness.

The winner of the Elizabeth Rohatyn Prize will receive a one-time award of $15,000 to support or further an innovative school learning environment, program or practice that has the potential to be replicated by other schools. The award may be applied to human resources; staffing; consultants; release and/or common planning time; software; hardware; and other materials.

Eligibility

Principals are eligible for nomination as representatives of their publicly-funded K-12 schools. Schools in the New York metropolitan area (within a 100 mile radius of New York City) may apply. Principals may apply on their own behalf or be nominated by another educator or parent. Since this is a one-time award, Elizabeth Rohatyn Prize winners from previous years are not eligible. However, we encourage former applicants who meet program criteria to resubmit for consideration.

Nominations will be accepted online starting March 1
Full applications will be accepted between March 18, 2013 and 6:00 PM April 22, 2013.
The Prize will be awarded at the Teaching Matters Annual Forum for Principals in July 2013.

Criteria

Submissions must demonstrate exemplary practice in attracting, growing or retaining great teachers. Examples may include but are not limited to:

Teacher Recruiting, Teacher Leadership, Data Use and Collaborative Inquiry, Smart Retention, and Observation and Feedback.

Submissions will be judged by a Prize Committee comprised of educational innovators and practitioners using the criteria that follow.  To view the complete rubric please click here.

• Supportive of Learning - The initiative benefits student learning outcomes.
• Expectations for Effective Teaching – The initiative promotes a culture of clear and shared high expectations for instructional practice and student outcomes.
• Promotes Professional Growth – The initiative promotes professional growth and recognizes excellence.
• Cost Effectiveness - The initiative contains costs without seriously compromising its integrity.
• Sustainability - The initiative is supported by and supportive of a critical school improvement priority. The innovation has the potential to scale to other parts of the school.
• Replicability - The initiative can be replicated in other schools with a minimum of difficulty.

Selection Process

The Elizabeth Rohatyn Prize Winner will be selected by a multi-step process that includes:

• Completion of a nomination/qualifying online application by either nominee or nominating colleague or parent
• Submission of a full application by nominee
• Final selection determined by a vote representing the prize committee and the public.

As part of the voting process, finalists will be required to share their initiatives online with the educational community.

About The Rohatyn Prize

The Rohatyn Prize is underwritten by The Elizabeth Rohatyn Innovation Fund. Mrs. Rohatyn is a champion of innovation and education. Driven by the belief that teachers are the most important school-related factor in raising student achievement, Mrs. Rohatyn joined forces with former teachers, principals and technology experts and founded Teaching Matters in 1994.

Past Winners

2012 Winner: Staten Island School of Civic Leadership (R861), Staten Island, NY

The Triad Model is a teacher effectiveness initiative that puts three teachers in charge of comprehensive instruction for two classrooms. This allows the team of teachers to own responsibility for everything from analyzing student performance data and developing interventions, to scheduling. The initiative elevates teacher teaming to a whole new level. During her acceptance speech, principal Kerr explained the powerful effects of the Triad Model. She emphasized that it didn't necessitate additional funding to implement but simply required reorganizing existing resources. "Ask any child in our building who their teacher is and it becomes plainly obvious they have not one, but three teachers accountable for their continued success," said Ms. Kerr.

2011 Winner: West Side Collaborative (MS250), Manhattan, NYC

The Westside Collaborative/MS250 is an innovative middle school located in Manhattan. We aim to foster teacher effectiveness through the expansion of our online collaborative community. We are pleased to highlight our innovative online structure which fosters staff ability to differentiate for students, share resources and lessons, collaborate without the time constraints of meeting face-to-face, track progress, communicate our teacher-leader initiatives and use assessment strategically. The effectiveness of our staffs’ use of these tools is evidence of how ingrained the collaborative structure is at our school where 75% of our staff is in teacher leader roles. Our schedule and differentiated staff roles promote the sharing of best practices in a culture of continual learning. This online collaboration system increases the ways our staff shares and makes that sharing transparent. The Elizabeth Rohatyn Prize will allow us to further our our professional learning community. We will purchase an ipad for all teachers to enable an efficient use of email, web collaboration & access to online PD, allowing them to keep their dedicated tool with them as they travel between their shared classrooms, thus extending their ability to collaborate beyond the school day. We would also use the funds to increase PD opportunities.