News Release
Montana Education Earns Grant for School Leadership
4/19/2004
Kris Goss
406-444-3862
kgoss@state.mt.us
HELENA - Governor Judy Martz, State Superintendent Linda McCulloch, the
Board of Public Education, and several education organizations announced
today that Montana has earned $600,000 from the Wallace Foundation to
focus school leaders on improving student achievement in the second phase of the State Action for Education Leadership Project. (SAELP) Montana was
recognized as one of 15 states who have been leading a national effort
to strengthen the capacity of education leaders to improve teaching and
learning
"The relationship between effective leadership of today's schools and
student achievement is well known," Superintendent McCulloch stated. "By
applying for these competitive dollars, we are now able to have an even
greater positive and far reaching impact on our shortage of qualified
school leaders to help student performance."
Started in 2001, the SAELP grant is important to statewide efforts to
help under-performing schools by developing school leadership capacity. The grant is designed to assist teachers, principals, superintendents, and
trustees through training, mentoring and networking. Additionally, it
will allow the state to recognize school districts across Montana who are
high performing and enlist their support in the very important task of
assisting schools in need.
"The efforts of the first phase of this project have been very
successful in elevating awareness about the need for strong school leaders," Governor Martz said. "Our comprehensive state consortium has worked well together and I believe that cooperation has yielded great results. I look forward to building on that work to find more solutions enhancing our ability to prepare, retain, and assist high quality school leaders that can strengthen our schools."
The Montana Office of Public Instruction submitted the proposal on
behalf of the "Montana State Action for Education Leadership Project Consortium." The Montana SAELP Consortium is made up of representatives from the Board of Public Education, MEA-MFT, Montana Rural Education Association, Montana School Boards Association, Montana State University Education Leadership Program, Office of the Governor, Office of Public Instruction, School Administrators of Montana University Of Montana Education Leadership Program, members of the Montana Legislature, Browning Public Schools, Great Falls Public Schools, and Sidney Public Schools.
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Kris Goss
Education Policy Advisor and Deputy Communications Director
Office of the Governor
State Capitol
Helena, MT 59620
(406) 444-3862
kgoss@state.mt.us
