WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Thad Cochran and Roger Wicker today announced that the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) has approved $697,051 for Mississippi State University to create the High Performance Leadership Institute, a program aimed at turning around failing and underperforming schools in Mississippi. 

“I think this new program will give troubled schools in our state a structured process for becoming the learning institutions they should be for our children,” Cochran said.  “As Mississippi State University begins to introduce this program at the local level, I hope that educators, administrators and parents embrace this chance to improve our schools.”

“This is an important investment in the education of Mississippi’s young people,” Wicker said.  “These funds will allow Mississippi State to implement this innovative program, which will empower educators and administrators at the local level to improve the quality of their schools.” 

MSU will partner with the Mississippi Department of Education in the establishment of the High Performance Leadership Institute.  After studying similar efforts in other states, MSU chose to use a model developed by the University of Virginia (UVa) for the institute.  Following the UVa model, educators and personnel from failing and underperforming schools in Mississippi will receive training in business operations, financial management, and leadership skills in order to help them improve their schools. 

With guidance from UVa on the program, MSU personnel will work with teams from targeted Mississippi schools, helping them to develop improvement plans.  These plans will contain specific activities, benchmarks, and quantifiable goals, including 90-day targeted action plans.  Under this initiative, rather than the state or another outside agency taking over a failing school, MSU will develop the capacity at the local level to elevate and maintain the school’s performance and level of achievement. 

In all, MSU will have a total of $897,865 for the Leadership Institute program, including the ARC funds, $156,814 in state funding and $44,000 from local sources.