BLOOMINGTON, Ind., Feb. 21, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Solution Tree, an educational publisher and professional development provider, has announced Minnieville Elementary School in Woodbridge, Virginia, as the winner of the fourth annual DuFour Award.
Named in honor of Dr. Richard DuFour, the award was created to honor one high-performing school demonstrating exceptional levels of student achievement. In a career that spanned four decades, Dr. DuFour was a teacher, principal, superintendent and champion of the Professional Learning Communities at Work® process. His advocacy and tireless dedication to school improvement led to the founding of The DuFour Award in 2015.
Minnieville Elementary School was recognized during The Summit on PLC at Work®, which took place in Phoenix, Arizona, Feb. 19–21, 2019. During the ceremony, Solution Tree presented the school with a check for $25,000.
“Announcing the winner of The DuFour Award is one of the finest parts of my job,” said Solution Tree’s CEO, Jeffrey C. Jones. “It’s an honor and a pleasure to reward these hardworking educators for their dedication and commitment.”
Minnieville Elementary’s application included an essay and short video detailing the school’s dedication to the professional learning communities process, improving student learning and advancing instructional best practices.
“Nine years ago, I had the distinct honor of attending a PLC workshop in Richmond, Virginia, led by Rick and Becky DuFour, with our school’s leadership team,” said Principal Nathaniel R. Provencio. “That single session was both inspiring and transformative in helping our school go from an underperforming Title 1 school to one of the highest-performing Title 1 schools in Virginia, and now the winner of The DuFour Award! We know how challenging it can be for schools with high populations of economically disadvantaged and linguistically diverse students. With that being said, all kids can learn, all families are assets and our teachers can meet any challenges through a focus on collaboration, learning and results.”
DuFour Award Committee chairman Thomas W. Many said, “From a field of very qualified and dedicated applicants, we selected Minnieville Elementary School, to recognize their achievement, their overall performance and most of all their improvement over the past nine years, through the successful implementation of the professional learning communities process.”
For more information about The DuFour Award and the winning school, please visit www.SolutionTree.com/awards.
About Solution Tree
Since 1998, Solution Tree has worked to transform education worldwide by empowering educators to raise student achievement. With more than 42,984 educators attending professional learning events and more than 4,260 professional development days in schools each year, Solution Tree helps teachers and administrators confront essential challenges. Solution Tree has a catalog of more than 515 titles, hundreds of videos and online courses and is the creator of Global PD, an online tool that facilitates the work of professional learning communities. Follow @SolutionTree on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.