Marc Cohen of Eldersburg is one to sing the praises of his school's staff and students before he credits himself.

Cohen, 37, won the 2009 Outstanding Young Educator Award by ASCD, a nonprofit educational leadership association, for his work as principal at Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School in Germantown.

"Winning this award was more about the recognition for the school more than it was for me," he said.

The award includes $10,000 cash for Cohen and an Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development institutional membership for the school, as well as a professional coach for Cohen to improve his work. Cohen is a 15-year member of the organization.

He was nominated by his assistant principal, Randy Gruber, who highlighted Cohen's community partnerships with the PTSA, NAACP, Montgomery County Police Department and local businesses.

Cohen, who previously taught at Westminster High School here in Carroll County, said he knew he came into a challenging school at MLK Jr. Middle, but made sure poverty and race held no barrier for student success.

With that, he listed a symphony of student and staff accomplishments, including the fact that school once had one of the highest suspension and referral rates in the county, and now has one of the lowest, equaling out to a 73 percent reduction.

If there's a problem with behavior, staff will break up a grade into groups for town hall style meetings to address the situation and give students a chance to make some change, he said.

"There's a fair amount of empowerment in our process," he said.

Maryland State Assessment scores have increased and so has advanced yearly progress (AYP) -- the state standard complying with the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

Specifically, from 2006 to 2008, the percentage of black students meeting AYP in reading improved from 59.8 percent to 73.8 percent, Hispanic students ranged from 56.6 percent to 82.4 percent, students on free and reduced meals improved from 54 percent to 74.9 percent and special education students improved from 30.3 to 51.1 percent.

Providing equitable instruction to all races and backgrounds is close to Cohen's heart. He credits Jerry Weast, Montgomery County Public Schools superintendent, for being "absolutely insistent" on providing equal instruction to all students.

"We challenge our kids to dream big, but we also challenge them to dream for tomorrow," he said, noting that each student should ask him or herself, "What are you going to do today to help get you there?"

Cohen, who received his master's degree from then-Western Maryland College (now McDaniel) in Westminster, said he plans to use some of the cash award to pay for earning a doctorate.

Some of the money he plans to use by paying it forward, establishing a scholarship for his students.

Cohen said when his students become seniors in high school, they will pick a dream school and Cohen will pay for the application fee to take away any excuse to not apply.

"The more education you have, the more opportunities you have," he said. "My basic philosophy is to provide those opportunities and open those doors to as many students as possible."

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