David Dierking is principal at Will C. Wood Middle School in the Alameda City Unified School District. He made some remarkable changes at his former school, where he served as principal for six years, and his leadership is having a similar effect at Wood Middle School. Mr. Dierking has established programs addressing a variety of needs, including an extended-day program for students needing extra guidance and support, a home instruction program for non-English-speaking parents and a student study team approach that has been adopted districtwide. His daily visits to his classrooms underscore the high expectations he has for his students and reinforce their expectations of themselves.
