Making Schools Work Conference Pacesetter & Leadership Awards
Pacesetter and Leadership Awards
Do you have a school that meets the Gene Bottoms Pacesetter Award standards? If so, we hope that you will nominate them for a Pacesetter award. Nominations are open from October-January each year.
2026 Gene Bottoms Pacesetter Award Winners
The Gene Bottoms Pacesetter School Award recognizes schools and districts that are implementing the Making Schools Work strategies and are seeing measurable improvements in student outcomes.
This year, we are proud to honor four outstanding institutions for their dedication to excellence and continuous improvement.
State Winner: North Carolina Department of Public Instruction
The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction has made great strides in providing educators with high-quality professional learning that is engaging, job-embedded and ongoing.
2026 Pacesetter Award Winner Sessions
The best way to learn from our Pacesetter winners is to hear it from them. That is why each year all of our winners offer at least one session at our conference to explain what helped them win and how you can implement it into your own school.
While you wait for the conference to start, learn some of our past winners’ stories by listening to their episodes of our Making Schools Work Podcast. You can find our Pacesetter Spotlight episodes below.
2025 Gene Bottoms Pacesetter Award Winners
We are proud of all of the past winners of the Gene Bottoms Pacesetter Awards. See who won in 2025.