Knowles to Receive 2011 Alumni Council Award

Timothy Knowles, Ed.M.’96, Ed.D.’02, will receive the 2011 Alumni Council Award for Outstanding Contribution to Education. Knowles is a school leader, reformer, researcher, and policymaker. He will receive the award during HGSE’s 2011 convocation ceremony on Wednesday, May 25.

“I am honored and humbled to receive this extraordinary award and accept it on behalf of all those working to improve the quality of schooling for children who depend on schools the most,” Knowles said.

Currently, Knowles is John Dewey Director and Clinical Professor at The University of Chicago Urban Education Institute (UEI). UEI is dedicated to building knowledge to produce reliably excellent schooling for children growing up in urban America. UEI undertakes rigorous applied research to inform practitioners and policymakers; develops innovative programs to train and support urban teachers and leaders; designs and operates exemplary preK–12 schools on Chicago’s South Side; and builds and disseminates scalable tools and models to improve urban schools nationwide, including in Newark, N.J; New York City; Washington, D.C.; New Orleans; Kansas City, Mo.; St. Louis; and Baltimore. Knowles created and runs four charter school campuses on Chicago’s South Side, with over 1600 students from grades preK–12. Under his leadership, these schools are graduating more than 90 percent of their students and 95 to 98 percent of those students are attending college.

Prior to his time in Chicago, Knowles served as deputy superintendent for teaching and learning at the Boston Public Schools — where he created two organizations devoted to building the pipeline of high quality teachers and school leaders — and served as codirector of the Boston Annenberg Challenge, a nationally recognized effort to improve literacy instruction.

He also founded and directed a K–8 school in Bedford-Stuyvesant, N.Y, served as the founding director of Teach For America in New York City, and was a teacher of African History in Botswana. He has written and spoken extensively on the topics of school leadership, teacher quality, school reform, and accountability in public schools.

“Tim is the embodiment of an alumnus who has made significant service to education and has had wide-ranging impact while working at the intersection of research, policy, and practice,” said HGSE Alumni Council Chair David Greene, Ed.M.’91, Ed.D.’02. “He has had a remarkable career in building and sustaining organizations that better the lives of students and their families. His work is inspirational in its reach and effectiveness and in its bedrock commitment to the rigorous practice and research of education.”

HGSE first established the Alumni Council Award for Outstanding Contribution to Education in 1985 in order to recognize the significance of service to education by alumni. Each year, the Alumni Relations Office solicits nominations for the award from the alumni body. Candidates must be graduates of HGSE and have made a noteworthy contribution to education during their professional careers.