2024  Principal of the Year Round Two

Eligibility

This program is designed to recognize the outstanding leadership of active, front-line principals.  It is not recognition of service at retirement or a program to reward state leaders.

• Any principal, headmaster, or leader of a public or private school in Indiana is eligible to be District Principal of the Year.
• District Principals of the Year become candidates for Indiana Principal of the Year.
• Candidates must hold a valid administrator’s license.
• Candidates must have served as a principal for three (3) years or longer.
• Candidates must complete the 2024 Principal of the Year application.
• Each candidate must be a current member of the Indiana Association of School Principals for one full year prior to nomination

Procedures

• District Principals of the Year must complete the Indiana Principal of the Year application.
• All applications must be typed or computer generated in an easy-to-read font no smaller than 11 points.
• The form may be requested at thoke@iasp.org.
• This completed application must be submitted to IASP by June 30, 2024.
• If you have questions regarding the application form or process, please call IASP at 800-285-2188 or e-mail thoke@iasp.org
• Awards will be announced at the Assistant Principal and Principal of the Year banquet during the IASP Fall Professional Conference.

Desired Characteristics of a Candidate for Indiana Principal of the Year

• Candidate should provide evidence of membership and active involvement in additional professional organizations.
• Candidate should provide evidence of personal community involvement.
• Candidate should provide evidence of involving the community in school activities.
• Candidate should provide evidence of personal involvement in the implementation and/or support of successful programs in the school.
• Candidate should provide evidence of working with teachers to implement and/or support programs, which improve student learning.
• Candidate should provide at least one example of being a risk taker to improve some aspect of the school.
• Candidate should provide evidence of his or her role in ensuring a positive school climate which reflects high student and staff morale.
• Candidate reflects the elements of the Breaking Ranks Framework

Breaking Ranks Framework

Personal Excellence

• Models continuous professional growth
• Interacts professionally and tactfully with others
• Communicates effectively in speaking and writing
• Models values, beliefs, and attitudes that encourage others to higher levels of performance
• Maintains an instructional focus in managing administrative tasks
• Recognizes, appreciates, and serves the needs of diverse constituencies in the school community

Collaborative Leadership

• Involves teachers, staff members, parents, students, and the community in creating and fostering a shared vision for the school
• Leads collaboratively to promote ownership among staff, students, parents, and community members for school efforts and outcomes
• Provides focus and direction to ensure alignment of practices, programs, and initiatives with the school’s mission, vision and goals
• Creates a culture of collaboration in which staff members work together as a professional learning community to promote student learning
• Teachers, coaches, and supports the development of potential and current school leaders
• Utilizes available technology tools for school management and operation, fostering collaboration and communication to effectively address issues in the school community.

Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment

• Improves teaching, learning, and assessment by implementing practices, programs, and improvement efforts on the basis of multiple sources of data
• Leads efforts in curriculum alignment and identification of essential learning at each level
• Observes, supervises, and evaluated teachers and instructional programs to maximize the learning opportunities for every teacher and for every student
• Teaches, coaches, and assists others in professional development that focuses on student learning
• Demonstrates knowledge of learning, teaching, assessment practices, research, and programs that maximize student performance
• Facilitates in developing and maintaining co-curricular programs that complement the curriculum while fostering students’ academic success
• Ensures that each student has the best possible chance of realizing success by providing a customized plan that takes into account the needs of individual learners in relation to learning time, setting, methods, and course sequence
• Leads in the use of available technology for management and delivery of instruction and assessment as well as the advancement of learning, invention, and creativity.

Personalization

• Establishes and maintains a school environment that reflects high expectations for students and staff
• Creates a school climate that is warm, inviting, safe, and secure
• Organizes the school so that all social, economic, and racial/ethnic groups have equal access to all school programs and provides the support needed for student success
• Creates structures that promote positive relationships between adults and students and ensures that each student is well-known by at least one staff member
• Understands the physical, social, emotional, and cognitive development of the students served by the school
• Leads in the use of available technology to meet the unique learning needs of each student.

Things to be prepared for before beginning this form:

• This is a lengthy form, so be sure to schedule a couple of hours to complete.  There is an option to save your work and continue later.  Upon clinking the “Save and Continue Later” button, a link will appear.  Please copy, paste, and save your link so you can return to your work at a later date.  Please follow the tech tips here and at the bottom of each page to successfully save and retrieve your work.
• Tech Tips for using “Save and Continue Later”
  1. Before opening the link to continue, please be sure the form is not already open in your browser. If it is, close the browser first. And clear your browser cache.
  a. Directions for clearing cache on Google Chrome: https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/32050?co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop&hl=en
  b. Directions for clearing cache on Firefox: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-clear-firefox-cache#w_clear-the-cache
  2. After clicking the link to continue the form, it will launch in a browser. Refresh the browser before continuing with the form.
• All candidates are required to submit a total of four letters of recommendation, one from each of the following:
  • Immediate supervisor or current superintendent on district letterhead
  • Principal or fellow assistant principal at any level
  • Teacher from assistant principal’s current staff
  • Student, parent, or business/community/government leader.
    Do not upload these until you are ready to submit at the end.
• You will be required to submit an essay.  Details are on the last page of this form.  Do not upload the essay until you are ready to submit at the end.  
• Each candidate is required to submit a maximum of one page of data to document and support the submitted essay responses, highlighting the outcomes of your involvement in school improvement initiatives. Do not upload the supporting data until you are ready to submit at the end.  
• You will be able to freely go back and forth between the pages of this form once the first page (Candidate and School Profile) is filled out completely.

Superintendent Certification Form

Send this link to your superintendent/immediate supervisor for certification.

Superintendent Form

Thank you !

2024 IASP Indiana Principal of the Year

Award Application

The HORACE MANN Company

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Indiana Association of School Principals

“The Indiana Association of School Principals leads in the advocacy and support of all principals in their commitment to every child”.