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May
19, 2015 – Jessica Ainsworth, an
Assistant Principal at Lithia Springs High School in Douglas County, is the National
Assistant Principal of the Year, the National Association of Secondary
School Principals (NASSP) announced today. Ainsworth will represent her
profession at the national level for the next year.
“Strong
leadership at the school level is absolutely essential as we work to
personalize, rather than standardize, Georgia students’ education,” State
School Superintendent Richard Woods said. “Ms. Ainsworth’s role is not an easy
one, and it requires a genuine love for the work and a desire to serve
students. I offer her my sincere congratulations and am thrilled an educator of
her caliber will represent Georgia nationwide.”
Faced
with the need to turn around a struggling culture and climate at Lithia Springs
High School, Ainsworth instituted The MANE Thing, a six-pronged initiative that
reflects a clear purpose and vision for academic success. She involved all
stakeholders in an emphasis on classroom instruction, intervention programs,
assessment and performance data analysis, attendance, behavior and supervision,
and parent engagement. Her efforts have led to consistent increases in reading
scores across all subgroups, most notably a tripling of the reading proficiency
rate among students with disabilities from 27 percent to 83 percent.
Lithia
Springs has also seen increases in graduation rate, job placements and college
acceptances. Ainsworth values the students behind the numbers and maintains
strong relationships with stakeholders. Students describe Ainsworth as
approachable, and teachers value the professional development opportunities she
regularly creates for them.
NASSP
annually honors an assistant principal from each of the 50 states, the District
of Columbia, and the Department of Defense Education Activity schools. Three
finalists were selected from the pool of state winners and were interviewed in
Washington, D.C. this April. Ainsworth was selected from among that pool of
three finalists.
