For Immediate Release                                                                      Contact: Cordell Jordan

August 15, 2006                                                                                           405.587.0232

Top Educator Speaks to OKCPS

Oklahoma City – A proven leader when it comes to turning urban school districts into high-performing schools is speaking to leaders from Oklahoma City Public Schools on Wednesday, August 16, 2006 at the Meridian Convention Center at I-40 and Meridian. Anthony Muhammad is the principal of Southfield High School in Southfield, Michigan, and the founder of New Frontier 21, an organization dedicated to providing urban and rural educators professional development that empowers them to create high-performing schools.

“Anthony is a master of using professional learning communities in large urban districts,” says DeAnn Davis, Executive Director of the Northwest Classen Learning Community. “It’s a model that has proven effective here in Oklahoma City. We look forward to his input and how we may continue on our successes here.”

Muhammad will speak to several of OKCPS’ learning communities in a series of presentations beginning at 8:30 a.m.

From Anthony Muhammad’s Biography:    Anthony’s experience ranges from classroom teacher to principal to champion of effective learning environments. In 1995, he co-founded a nationally recognized charter school, the Sankofa Shule Public School Academy in Lansing, Michigan. The progress realized at Sankofa Shule was documented in articles published in U.S. News & World Report and The Wall Street Journal . In 1999, Sankofa Shule’s students scored higher than all students in Ingham County in the areas of math (94.5%) and writing (92.9%). The former principal of Levey Middle School in Southfield, Anthony used the Professional Learning Communities at Work school improvement model to address troubling issues. At the time of his arrival, Levey had a history of poor scores on state academic assessments and more than 3,000 disciplinary referrals and suspensions the previous year. Anthony’s progressive approach to leadership resulted in measurable gains in student achievement, both in academic performance and in decreased disciplinary referrals. His efforts earned him the state’s top award for middle school principals, and Levey is now recognized as a National Exemplary School by the U.S. Department of Education.

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