Eisenhower Junior High principal Nancy Jadallah will receive a national award this weekend for her research on middle-school reform — the first acting principal ever to receive the honor.

Jadallah will receive the Middle Level Dissertation Award from the National Association of Secondary School Principals at the group's convention in Reno.

Her work, "The Relationship Between Middle Level Reform and Student Outcomes," examines the relationship between a school district's reforms and the teaching and learning environment and student achievement.

"We applaud the significant work of Nancy Jadallah. Her work on the middle-level reform highlights an area of school improvement that is too often forgotten . . . the middle grades," said John Nori, NASSP's director of instructional leadership.

The award program began in 1984 to encourage and recognize high-quality research on middle-level leadership.

The dissertation is posted at www.principals.org.