Palliser Regional Schools’ Alison Hancox has been recognized as one of Canada’s top principals.
Hancox, principal at Palliser Beyond Borders online and outreach program, was among 40 educators from across the country named today to Learning Partnership’s Canada’s Outstanding Principals program.
The program, now in its 13th year, recognizes the unique and vital contributions of principals in publicly funded schools. Nominations are welcomed each year from school boards, colleagues, parents, teachers, students and community members.
Nomination packages are judged first by a local principal’s association and then a national selection committee based on criteria including: leadership and innovation; student achievement; partnerships with families and communities; and personal growth initiatives.
The Learning Partnership noted that Hancox is an award-winning leader of Palliser Beyond Borders – a unique learning community with four outreach schools representing small, rural communities in Coaldale, Picture Butte and Vulcan as well as the City of Calgary. The school offers flexibility, personalization and hybrid learning.
A culturally-sensitive model allows students to work off-campus and attend outreach for instruction. Collaboration with community partners is integral to Hancox’s work.
Under her leadership, the school has grown from 27 students in 2013-2014 – the school’s first year – to 671 in June 2016, and high school completion rates soared from 65 per cent to 97 per cent in three years.
The winners are formally recognized at a gala celebration and a week-long leadership course at the Rotman School of Management in late February in Toronto. Hancox will also join the ranks of the National Academy of Canada’s Outstanding Principals, which now boasts more than 400 members.
The Learning Partnership is a national charity dedicated to building stakeholder partnerships to support, promote and advance publicly funded education in Canada. For more information go to www.thelearningpartnership.ca.
To watch a Global News feature on this award-winning principal, click here.