NOMINATION, REVIEW & Selection Process

Step One – Review of Community Nominations Along with Available School Data

A foundational aspect of selecting the annual award winners are nominations that come directly from the community. Parents, students, teachers, partners, community members—anyone who feels moved — are encouraged to share why they believe their principal deserves Heart of the School recognition. The nomination form can be found here.

However, nominations are not votes. While it is impressive to see multiple nominations for a principal, the Selection Committee (see below for details) is most interested in the content of the nominations. Specifically, they look for evidence that the principal leads a school community that meets the selection criteria (to the right on this page).

In addition to the information gleaned from the nominations, the Selection Committee also reviews publicly available school data. They look for positive trends on the following items:

• Student achievement
• Student attendance
• Student enrollment
• School survey results
• Teacher retention

Using nominations and data, the Selection Committee selects a minimum of 10 finalists. We plan to have this complete by February.

Step Two – School Visits

Members of the Selection Committee visit each of the finalists at their schools, which includes informal interviews with the principal and staff. They will look and listen for evidence of the selection criteria listed above. These are planned to happen in March.

Step Three – Pulling it All Together

Using information from the site visits, nominations, and publicly available data, the Selection Committee selects Winners and Honorees. Each year our goal is to honor a group of principals who reflect the diversity of individuals, experiences, and contexts that comprise the outstanding leadership talent in Baltimore City. This should be complete by the end of March.

Winners and Honorees will be celebrated at the Heart of the Schools event, held each May.