GHS Veep Among Top Three in Country

Maureen Cohen, assistant principal of, has been named a finalist for the 2012 NASSP/Virco National Assistant Principal of the Year.

Since becoming Grafton’s assistant principal in 2005, Cohen has spearheaded numerous technology initiatives. In addition to updating the school’s website weekly, she launched school Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter pages and helped implement a parent website that facilitates donations and event coordination.

Beyond leveraging technology as a communication and engagement tool, Cohen uses it to improve instruction. She maintains a blog that serves as an open platform to share strategies and ideas with other teachers and administrators. She also shares her knowledge of how to integrate technology in the classroom by leading workshops in her district and at state conferences.

“Maureen takes pride in her work and in the work and success of all teachers and students,” said James Pignataro, principal of Grafton High School. “She has become our go-to person for our curriculum and technology programs and has led the charge in integrating various technology tools, such as blogs, teacher web pages, and iPads. All of these initiatives focus on instruction, assessment, and student engagement.”

As Grafton’s curriculum coordinator, Cohen has also taken measures to ensure that students have access to rigorous courses. She added electives, aligned the curriculum to state standards, and helped develop an alternative to tracking through a coteaching program.

As a result, in the last two years, the percentage of students with disabilities scoring proficient on the state test in English language arts jumped from 32% to 81%.

As if those accomplishments were not enough, Cohen also initiated the school’s freshman advisory program, a dropout prevention program, and a faculty mentoring program.

NASSP and school furniture manufacturer Virco Inc. annually honor a winner from each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the Department of Defense Education Activity schools. Selection criteria are built around collaborative leadership; curriculum, instruction, and assessment; and school personalization, the core areas of the NASSP Breaking Ranks Framework for school improvement.

The three finalists were selected from the pool of state winners, and one national winner will be announced during the 2012 NASSP Breaking Ranks K-12 Conference March 10 in Tampa, Fla. Each finalist will receive $1,500 and the national winner will be awarded $5,000, which can be used for personal professional development or for a school improvement project.

All state winners, including Cohen, will be honored at a three-day event in Washington, D.C. on April 18 to 21.