 | MESPA Home > Honors > National Distinguished Principal > NDP Selection Criteria | | | NDP Selection Criteria | | The National Distinguished Principals
(NDP) program was established in 1984 to recognize elementary and middle level
principals who set high standards for instruction, student achievement,
character, and climate for the students, families, and staffs in their learning
communities. The program was based on three fundamental ideas:
- Children’s attitudes towards learning and their perceptions
of themselves as lifelong learners are established in the beginning school
years.
- The scope and quality of children’s educational
experiences are determined primarily by the school principal, who
establishes, through the important work of teachers and the support of
caring parents, the character of a particular school’s program.
- The dedication and enthusiasm of the outstanding
principals who guide children’s early education experiences should be
acknowledged to both show appreciation for their work as well as to allow
them to serve as models for others in the field.
The
NDP Program is sponsored by the National Association of Elementary School
Principals (NAESP) in cooperate sponsorship with VALIC. Each year, NDPs
represent PreK – 8th grade public schools from all across the
country as well as principals in U.S. private schools and those from the United
States Departments of Defense Office of Educational Activity and the United
States Department of State Office of Overseas Schools. Public school elementary
and middle-level principals are nominated by peers in their state, and final
selections are made by committees appointed by each of NAESP’s state affiliate
offices. Honorees from private schools and overseas schools are selected by
special committees.
The NDP
program is designed to recognize the outstanding leadership of active, on-line principals. It is not a recognition of service at
retirement, nor is it a program to reward current state or national leaders.
Criteria
established by NAESP require that the individual:
- Is a member of NAESP at the time of the award.
- Is a practicing principal with
at least five years experience in the principalship.
- Plans to continue as a
practicing principal.
- Demonstrates evidence of outstanding contributions
to the community and to the education profession.
- Leads a school that is clearly committed to excellence.
- Leads a school that has programs designed to meet the
academic and social needs of all students.
- Leads a school that has firm ties to parents and the
community.
- Meets the additional criteria below.
In addition to the above criteria:
- NAESP board is ineligible. Anyone
currently holding a position on the NAESP
Board of Directors, including its officers, during the official nomination
time period or during the year he/she would serve as NDP, is ineligible for NDP
selection.
- Elementary school NDP candidates must be principals of schools with students in either
grades pre-K, K, 1, 2, 3, or 4, though older students may attend as well.
- Middle level school NDP candidates must be principals of schools with students in grades 4,
5, 6, 7, and/or 8 only.
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Evidence of
outstanding contributions to the well-being of the educational community will
include:
- ways in which the
principal’s leadership has benefited curriculum, staff morale, community
support, student interest, and the learning environment;
- increasing
or consistently high levels of student achievement as demonstrated on the
state-wide assessment instrument;
- ways in which the
principal provides creative leadership to inspire teachers and others to
achieve and contribute to the school environment;
- examples of service or
achievements above and beyond what is expected in the usual school program; and
- ways in which others have
acknowledged the principal as a force for positive change.
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