PHILADELPHIA, PA—John S. Jenks School Principal Mary Williams Lynskey was named Northwest Region First In Math® Principal of the Year for the 2008/2009 school year. Lynskey was presented with the "Cred Dobson Achievement Award" by First In Math® creator Robert Sun at a special ceremony during the Northwest Region Principal's meeting held at the District office at Leeds Middle School on January 27, 2010.
Left to right: Assistant Regional Superintendent Jack Hamilton; Stephanie Mitchell; Cred Dobson; Mary Williams Lynskey and Robert Sun.
"I cannot thank everyone enough for the wonderful surprise and this award," said an emotional Lynskey. "I truly mean it when I say that I wanted to win it for a long time. It is also especially meaningful because of the connection to Cred!"
"Mary is very deserving of this and much more," says Dobson, former Academic Coach of Mathematics for the Northwest Region, noting that last year Jenks students made significant gains in test scores, and met AYP standards. Jenks saw healthy increases in PSSA (Pennsylvania State System of Assessment) math scores in grades 3, 4, 5, 7 and 8—with a 31.9 percentage-point increase in the number of 5th-graders classified as 'Proficient and Above'.
"What is equally impressive is the increase in the number of students placed in the 'Advanced' category," explains Sun. The increases in the number of students scoring Advanced were 20.4 percentage-points in grade 4, 16.2 percentage-points in grade 5 and 12 percentage-points in grade 7.
Sun also presented an award to Stephanie Mitchell of Leeds Middle School as Principal of the Most Improved First in Math School. Mitchell received a standing ovation from her peers, as she did last year when she was presented with a FIM Honorable Mention award for inspiring her students to excel in mathematics. Leeds is currently #5 in the nation and # 2 in the SDP among Top Schools.
Past recipients of the Northwest Region First In Math® Principal of the Year award include: AMY Northwest's Marco Zanoni (2007/2008); Fitler's Willette Jones (2006/2007) and Hill-Freedman's Diane Hathaway (2005/2006), who is now Superintendent of the district’s West Region.
Photo copyright Matt Seaver-Studio XI Photography