Albert Hill Middle School in Richmond, Virginia, is the winner of a 2026 Gene Bottoms Pacesetter School Award from the Southern Regional Education Board. Albert Hill will be honored July 14 at SREB’s Making Schools Work Conference in Nashville.

Pacesetter Awards recognize schools that are implementing one of SREB’s Making Schools Work school improvement frameworks and are achieving success in meeting bold goals related to graduation rates, readiness for college and careers, and credential attainment.

Albert Hill implements SREB’s school improvement design for middle schools. The school is being recognized for its successful turnaround, recently achieving accreditation after nine years without the distinction.

The school maximized Making Schools Work practices by embedding conference strategies directly into lesson planning and assessment. They focused on student engagement, relationship-building and literacy integration, particularly within mathematics. Teachers used detailed monitoring and data analysis to ensure long-term retention of learning and a supportive classroom environment.

As a result of these efforts, Albert Hill Middle School achieved:

• Successful accreditation for the first time in nearly a decade.
• A ranking among the top five schools in the state for growth in both reading and math.
• The development of inclusive, responsive classrooms focused on student success.

SREB’s annual Making Schools Work Conference provides educators with opportunities to participate in professional development, network with colleagues from across the country and build school and district leadership capacity.

Contact: Beth Day, Communications Vice President, at Beth.Day@sreb.org

The Southern Regional Education Board works with states, districts and schools to improve education at every level, from early childhood through doctoral education and the workforce. An interstate compact and a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization based in Atlanta, SREB was created in 1948 by Southern governors and legislators to advance education and improve the social and economic life of the region.