U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos today announced the 2017 recipients of the Terrel H. Bell Award for Outstanding School Leadership. The eight principals from the 2017 cohort of National Blue Ribbon Schools will be honored during the National Blue Ribbon Schools awards ceremony on Nov. 6, in Washington, DC.

“It’s a privilege to honor this year’s Bell awardees and to recognize them for their achievement,” Secretary DeVos said. “Through their work, these principals show that when effective leadership is coupled with high expectations, we can expect great results for all of our nation’s students.”

Named for the second U. S. Secretary of Education, the Bell Award honors exemplary school leaders as part of the National Blue Ribbon Schools Program. Principals are nominated by their school communities during the final stages of the National Blue Ribbon Schools application process.

The Bell Awards are presented by the U.S. Department of Education, together with the National Association of Elementary School Principals, the Association for Middle Level Education and the National Association of Secondary School Principals.

The 2017 recipients are:

• Ms. Sophie Lee, Sunset Elementary School, San Francisco, California
• Dr. Robert McBride, Neuqua Valley High School, Naperville, Illinois
• Ms. Kristen Hughes, White Street School, Springfield, Massachusetts
• Mrs. Glenda Lynn McFadden OFS, Nashua Catholic Regional Junior High School, Nashua, New Hampshire
• Mr. Michael Fiorello, Berkeley Avenue Elementary School, Westwood, New Jersey
• Ms. Ursula Annio, P.S. 748 Brooklyn School for Global Scholars, Brooklyn, New York
• Mr. Paul Covey, Valle Verde Early College High School, El Paso, Texas
• Mrs. Jo-Ellen M. Connolly, Collier Primary School, Colliers, West Virginia

Brief summaries of each recipient’s work are available at http://www.ed.gov/nationalblueribbonschools.