Rocky Ridge principal appointed to National Assessment Governing Board

by

U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardone today appointed Rocky Ridge Elementary School Principal Dil Uswatte to the national board that assesses achievement levels in the country’s schools.

Uswatte, who has been principal at Rocky Ridge for 8½ years, will be the elementary principal representative on the National Assessment Governing Board, which oversees and sets policy for the National Assessment of Educational Progress, also known as the “The Nation’s Report Card.”

Cardone appointed Uswatte to a three-year term on the 26-member board, which determines what content will be assessed on the national test, sets achievement levels that describe student performance and pursues new ways to make the test results useful and meaningful to the public.

Uswatte is the first principal from Alabama to ever serve on the board and only the second Alabamian at all, according to a list of former board members on the board’s website. The first was Chasidy White, a teacher from Brookwood Middle School in Tuscaloosa County who served on the board from 2014 to 2018.

“We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Uswatte as the elementary school principal representative on the Governing Board,” said Lesley Muldoon, the executive director of the board, in a press release. “After the disruptions of the pandemic — evidenced by stark declines on The Nation’s Report Card last month — it’s more important than ever to help educators and families understand how children are progressing academically and how best to help each and every one of them succeed. Dr. Uswatte’s distinguished record as a STEM {science, technology, engineering and math} teacher, principal and mentor to fellow educators will strengthen the board’s efforts to ensure that The Nation’s Report Card informs educational recovery and acceleration efforts nationwide.”

Uswatte has been in education at least 26 years and received multiple awards.

In 2020, she was named a National Distinguished Principal, and in 2019 she won the Alabama Education Leader of the Year Award. She was inducted into the Jacksonville State University Teacher Hall of Fame in 2008 and in 2009 received the National Milken Educator Award.

Since then, she has developed and implemented a mentoring program for Milken award winners to help them mentor other teachers in their districts.

“The selection of Dr. Dilhani Uswatte to serve in the elementary principal position for the National Assessment Governing Board will greatly benefit our nation’s students, especially as schools focus on unfinished learning,” said Earl Franks, executive director of the National Association of Elementary School Principals. “Her proven successes as a teacher, an assistant principal and a principal wouldn’t have happened without her dedication and passion for her students and her commitment to ensuring high-quality educational opportunities for all. With recognition at the local, state and national levels for her exemplary and innovative leadership, her voice representing the elementary school level on the board is a win for education as a whole and will be instrumental in navigating the path forward for assessing student achievement.”

Alabama schools Superintendent Eric Mackey issued a statement saying it’s a privilege to engage with educators such as Uswatte who are transformative in their approach to leading students.

“She was making a huge impact in the field of education early in her career, as evidenced by her designation as a Milken Educator Award recipient in 2009,” Mackey said. “Since then, she has leveraged the recognition and networking that came with that distinction to coach other educators as a part of the mentoring group she helped establish known as the Alabama Milken Visionary Partnerships.”

Through this initiative, Uswatte and other Milken Educator Award recipients are revitalizing and strengthening education in Alabama, Mackey said.

“This appointment as the elementary principal board member is the natural progression of someone with such a boundless approach to education reform,” Mackey said. “Dr. Uswatte brings with her enthusiasm and innovation that will benefit the board specifically and the field of education in general. As a state, we are so proud of her and cannot wait to see the impact she makes.”

Uswatte said she is ecstatic to be selected for the Governing Board after applying for it about two years ago. She said it’s an honor to be a part of the board, especially as educators everywhere grapple with overcoming the learning losses associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, she said.

“I’m really excited that I’m going to be a bit of a cheerleader for our state,” Uswatte said.

Alabama students on average have shown less learning loss than the national rates, and Hoover students, while experiencing learning losses during the pandemic, have recovered faster than students nationally as a whole.

Furthermore, the Hoover school district landed on four national Top 10 lists for districts with substantial learning gains for students in poverty, black students and Hispanic students.

Uswatte said she will be serving on a subgroup of the Governing Board called the Assessment Development Committee, which helps determine what questions will be on the national test.

And she will begin work almost immediately. She flies to Washington D.C. next Tuesday for an introduction to the Governing Board and then will have two days of meetings with the board, which will happen four times a year, she said.

Board members also have work to do in between those in-person meetings, but Uswatte said she is glad she will be able to continue as principal at Rocky Ridge while she does that.

“I can’t tell you how excited I am about this,” she said. “I’m super-pumped.”

To learn more about the National Assessment Governing Board, go to nagb.gov.