Taking a Regional PreK-12 Community Schools Model Nationwide

Join us for a webinar featuring 2023 McGraw Prize winner Debra Duardo, superintendent of the Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE).

As the superintendent of the nation’s most populous and diverse regional education agency, Duardo has led the way in integrating resources and activities to improve student outcomes, individual and collective well-being, and organizational excellence.

For more than three decades, the McGraw Prize in Education has recognized outstanding individuals deeply committed to harnessing innovation in education to improve the lives of learners worldwide.

This webinar — which will be moderated by Dr. Andrea M. Kane, Penn GSE Professor of Practice - is one in a series presented by Catalyst @ Penn GSE featuring winners of the Harold W. McGraw, Jr. Prize for Education. Together, Catalyst and the McGraw Prize are advancing innovation in education through a growing array of programming. This live virtual event will be recorded.

Duardo was awarded the McGraw Prize at a November ceremony in NYC, where she spoke of her “guiding star” of supporting struggling students and families and giving them access to the help they need.

“My journey into this crucial work was far from ordinary, rooted in my personal challenges and experiences,” she said at the ceremony. “I am the daughter of Mexican immigrants, a high school dropout, and a teenage mother. If you had asked me years ago if I would stand here today, I would have found it unimaginable. Yet, here I am, surrounded by all of you, including members of my family, accepting this remarkable recognition.”

Read more about Duardo and this year’s other winners on the McGraw Prize website.