Redbird Kevin Finnegan had the easiest run of his life last October.
The Prairie Hill Elementary principal was lacing up his sneakers when he received a call from the main office. He would soon be expected outside to kick off the school’s annual jog-a-thon, an exercise-inspired fundraiser he and his team incepted in 2014. Students work for months to get sponsored for a jovial jaunt around the school, and the funds net new community-enhancing resources.
The morning announcements were next on his agenda, not a lengthy phone conversation. The caller would have to wait.
“Go ahead and send them to voicemail,” Finnegan said.
A couple of minutes later, the same voice returned to the line. By this point, he was almost out the door. But his staff stopped him.
“They said they’re calling from the U.S. Department of Education!”
The news was worth a minute’s pause.
For the second time during Finnegan’s 13-year tenure as principal, Prairie Hill was named a Blue Ribbon School. Finnegan was also awarded one of the Terrel H. Bell Awards for Outstanding School Leadership.
“I went out there and ran with the students for an hour and a half, but I felt like I was just kind of floating,” said the Illinois State P-12 Administration doctoral student.
“I probably put up some of my fastest times ever.”
The honor came with a trip to Washington, D.C., an awards ceremony, and the opportunity to rub shoulders with U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, who Finnegan called a “true practitioner.”
“I claim it like it’s like a Super Bowl. It’s a team award. It’s not an individual accomplishment,” he said. “That’s the greatest part about it.”
A history of greatness
Prairie Hill first became a Blue Ribbon School in 2014, four years into Finnegan’s tenure. They were the first in Northern Illinois’ Winnebago County to garner the recognition.
Only 20 schools in Illinois (and 356 nationally) received Blue Ribbon status in 2023, and the Terrell H. Bell Award is even rarer. It’s bestowed on just nine school leaders across the country. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, about 130,000 public and private schools in the U.S. are selected, meaning about one in 400 schools.
To say Finnegan, his staff, students, and families are in rarified air is an understatement, but the award is a testament to their dedication and innovation. He said the awards validate their new efforts over the past 10 years.
“We’ve changed all of our structures and the way we collaborate. It’s humbling to be a part of this, because I already had an amazing community and an amazing staff,” he said.
“And what makes them awesome is they wanted to be better. They didn’t say, ‘We’re already doing well, we’re already doing great things.’ They wanted to push themselves and push each other. And that’s where the recognition really comes from.”
For the Redbird, it all starts with an effective learning community, including a low-stakes approach to evaluating teachers.
“I never enter the evaluation process with the mindset ‘Am I keeping them or am I firing them?’” Finnegan said. “Instead, it’s always been ‘How can I teach them how to grow?’”
Finnegan evaluates teachers on a typical day in their classroom instead of pressuring them to execute a perfect lesson on his timeline.
“I never watch a fancy lesson when I’m observing. I see their usual day-to-day, because that’s the stuff I can give them feedback on,” he said.
“I’m able to build them up with what they’re doing great and suggest areas for improvement. That’s because I’m seeing 45 different teachers every year. I get to watch greatness throughout, and I can see how their instruction complements each other’s. They don’t get to see that when they’re in their own classroom environment.”
As an instructional leader for his school, Finnegan encourages faculty to take the reins of their development and professional learning communities. He witnessed it in action when participating in each grade level’s common prep time.
“It’s their meeting, and I’m simply an active, fifth member of the team. They’re not reporting anything to me. Instead, I ask ‘How can I help? What can we do to address a need?’” he said.
“That’s really the most fun day of the week, for me.”
Student-centered
Finnegan strategically softens the meaning of the phrase “go to the principal’s office” for students beginning in kindergarten.
That’s because, each year, 400 kids, grades K-4, are individually invited to his space on their birthdays. He came up with an idea a few years after getting into leadership.
“Especially when you’re working in an elementary school, there’s nothing more exciting for a child than their birthday,” he said.
Students arrive in his office, already on cloud nine, and Finnegan reads to them. The book is theirs to keep, and he signs it. In return, the kids autograph his office wall. Those signatures are indelible, so students witness how their signatures change over the years. A few have even returned as adults to visit him and check out their adolescent etchings.
“I really loved the relationship I had with students when I was a classroom teacher, and building rapport with them is just as important to me, today,” he said. “If I’m going to be working with students, and if I’m going to be teaching them right from wrong, they need to know that I care about them doing right.”
The tradition has become ubiquitous with Finnegan. When he enters a classroom, the first question students and teachers ask is, “Oh, whose birthday is it?”
The EAF effect
Finnegan joined the Department of Educational Administration and Foundations (EAF) as a student in the fall of 2020. While it was a rough time for educators, his cohort members have continuously leaned on one other for support. And because it’s an online group, they can speak to their experiences in different parts of the world, from Chicago to Medellín, Colombia.
“It’s been awesome to learn from such amazing educators in our cohort who have experiences vastly different than my own,” he said.
“I feel as though I’m going to an administrative roundtable every week. And it makes me better at what I’m doing because the ideas I get from them.”
While Finnegan has experienced tremendous success at Prairie Hill, his time in the EAF program has enabled him to put his journey into perspective.
“The program has provided an understanding of the world outside of the one I live. I know this building; I can be a great principal of this building, because that’s what I’ve done,” he said.
“But what I don’t know is ‘Could I replicate what I’ve done here, elsewhere?’ What I’ve really understood working through this EAF program is how different the same job title can be in different places, from principal to superintendent.”
He credits EAF’s blend of practitioners and scholars for contributing to an education he’s confident will help him reach his goal of becoming a superintendent. Beyond the value the cohort model provides, EAF’s faculty is the reason he recommends the leadership program to his colleagues.
“Every professor I’ve had has been remarkable,” he said.
“From them, you learn what the different jobs entail, the difficulties, and the rewards. If you put in the effort, you get networking, and you get an understanding of the profession from those who are living it.”
Just as he strives to help his teachers grow, Finnegan has been supported by EAF faculty to tackle his dissertation research. The program follows the Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate (CPED) model, which empowers students to examine a problem of practice within their buildings. The research projects are approached from a social justice lens.
Finnegan is examining kindergarten readiness and why today’s young learners do not appear to be on par with their pre-pandemic counterparts.
“I’m a big proponent of early childhood education, and I’ve been able to see a dip in our kindergarten readiness post-COVID,” he said.
“I understood why first grade reading struggled for the kids who weren’t in the building for an extended period. That made sense. But why did it affect 3-year-olds so much? Why did it affect 2-year-olds and 4-year-olds? I’m intrigued to find out the causes so that we can consider the solutions.”
No matter the challenges in his building, Finnegan will always run to offer his support, even if it means sending the U.S. Department of Education to voicemail.
