The purpose of the IMPACT Arkansas Principal Fellows Program is to identify aspiring leaders in rural, high-poverty Arkansas schools and provide them with high-quality, job-embedded learning experiences and mentoring to build leadership capacity within their districts. The College of Education and Health Professions of the University of Arkansas partnered with the Walton Family Foundation to launch the program in 2014. A total of 147 IMPACT fellows across 8 cohorts represent 122 schools in 81 districts and 8 charter systems. Students in the program’s 7th cohort will graduate in December 2023 with a Master of Education in Educational Leadership. These leaders from just a single cohort are estimated to impact more than 800 teachers and 8,000 students.

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  • Principal Leslie Taylor meets with teacher Teacher Stacie Breshears.
    U of A COEHP IMPACT Fellow Is Beating the Odds for Student Outcomes in Little Rock, Arkansas
    Stacie Breshears (’17) was a successful fifth-grade teacher at Wakefield Elementary School in Southwest Little Rock when her principal, Leslie Taylor, approached her about applying for the first cohort of the U of A IMPACT program. Breshears knew she had Taylor’s support as a mentor, so she was confident in preparing to join the leadership … Read more
  • Anita Hart-McNair and John Osborn
    U of A COEHP IMPACT Fellows Implement Collaborative Leadership Approach in Jacksonville
    John Osborn (’21) and Anita Hart-McNair (’21) are reimagining what school leadership can look like in Arkansas. As Cohort 5 graduates of the University of Arkansas College of Education and Health Professions IMPACT Fellowship Program, Osborn and Hart-McNair were on separate leadership journeys with Arkansas Lighthouse Charter Schools. Osborn had served as a school leader … Read more
  • Cindy Bever talks with students in Camden-Fairview School District.
    U of A COEHP IMPACT Fellow Changing School Culture in Camden, Arkansas
    When University of Arkansas graduate Cindy Bever (Class of 2018) was approached last summer by her district superintendent about taking on the role of principal for a newly reconstituted Ivory Intermediate School to serve approximately 300 fourth- and fifth-graders, she knew she was ready for the challenge. Mrs. Bever had spent her recent career successfully … Read more
  • S.C. Tucker Elementary teachers Kimberly Johnston and Lindsey Rylee pose with the school's principal, Jenni Phomsithi. The Danville School District elementary is the first in Arkansas to be led by consecutive IMPACT Arkansas Principal Fellows.
    IMPACT Fellows Lead School to Highest Student Achievement Growth in Arkansas
    S.C. Tucker Elementary in Danville earned the “Beating the Odds” award this year for having the highest overall student growth among Arkansas schools serving a high percentage of students living in poverty. Their recognition from the U of A Office for Education Policy includes being the highest math growth school and the second highest in English Language … Read more