can anyone from down there make it?
2007 LEXILE NATIONAL READING CONFERENCE
Reading Beyond the Classroom
June 18-20, Disney's Coronado Springs Resort, Lake Buena Vista, FL
Mel Riddile, Ed.D.
2006 MetLife/NASSP National High School Principal of the Year
Dr. Mel Riddile, MetLife/NASSP 2006 National High School Principal of the Year, was principal of J.E.B. Stuart High School in Falls Church, Va. for nine years. Stuart is demographically diverse: 46 percent of the students were born in 77 other countries, representing more than 36 different languages; 66 percent speak a language other than English as their primary language; and about 54 percent qualify for the federal free/reduced lunch program. When Dr. Riddile came to the school, it was near the bottom on all of the county’s predictors for school success. Still, Dr. Riddile and his staff were able to achieve remarkable results. Stuart was the focus of a September 2001 National Geographic article, “A High School Melting Pot;” one of twelve 2003 50-50-90-90 finalists; named as one of six Breakthrough High Schools in 2004 by NASSP; an ICLE Model School 2004 and 2005; an Education Trust Pilot High School 2004-05; and received the IBNA Inspiration Award in 2004. In January 2005, citing the school’s outstanding record of academic achievement, President George W. Bush chose Stuart as the site to deliver his policy speech on high school reform. Stuart is involved in a constant cycle of assessment, analysis, application of resources and achievement. In the past year, the school has been visited by educators and administrators from across the country and around the world.
Dr. Riddile has been a school administrator since 1974 and also has school-based, central office and consulting experience. In addition to his responsibilities as a high school principal, Dr. Riddile is on the National Governor’s Association Adolescent Literacy Advisory Panel, the Scholastic, Inc. Board of National Advisors, and a member of the Carnegie Corporation’s Advisory Council on Advancing Adolescent Literacy. In the fifty-year history of the Greater Washington Reading Council, Dr. Riddile is the only high school principal to be named Administrator of the Year. He was named High School Principal of the Year by the Virginia Association of Secondary School Principals and subsequently was selected as the National High School Principal of the Year by NASSP and MetLife.
On July 1, 2006, Dr. Riddile became the principal of T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria, Va. Many people will recognize this high school from the movie, “Remember the Titans.”
Dr. Riddile received his B.A. from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, his M.A. from George Mason University, and his Ed.D. from George Peabody College of Vanderbilt University.
KEYNOTE SESSION: “We spell hope, R-E-A-D.”
A focused literacy initiative can help high schools break through even the most formidable barriers to raise student achievement. Even schools that have all the odds stacked against them can become nationally and internationally recognized for outstanding academic performance. President George W. Bush chose Dr. Riddile’s school as the location to deliver his policy speech on high school reform citing the school’s reputation for “serving the underserved.” In his forty-minute speech, the President quoted Dr. Riddile saying, “We spell hope, R-E-A-D.” Dr. Riddile will discuss how to build a foundation of literacy that can enable diverse, high poverty, high second-language, urban schools to establish high expectations for academic achievement and exemplary student behavior and create “an environment of civility, hospitality, mutual respect, and personal dignity.”
