Adam Lee Bowen

New Buffalo Elementary School
New Buffalo Area Schools
New Buffalo, Michigan
abowen@nbas.org

Adam Lee Bowen served New Buffalo Elementary School (NBES) as a teacher and Title I coordinator for 11 years before assuming the role of principal six years ago. In his short tenure, NBES has received multiple distinctions, including being named a 2020 National Blue Ribbon School for its success in closing the achievement gap. Third and fourth graders at NBES ranked sixth and third in the state, respectively, in 2019, and the school ranked first and second in the county across all academic areas in 2021. Bowen credits these achievements to the school’s strategic use of data to drive instruction and school improvement. Through PLCs, Bowen supports teachers in leveraging formative and summative assessment data to write academic “prescriptions” for needed interventions and enrichments for every student. These tailored education plans are delivered through the school’s highly structured differentiated instruction model, which fully utilizes support staff and subject specialists to maximize instruction time. NBES has adopted new reading, writing, and math curricula and reintegrated common core principles under Bowen’s leadership, while the School Improvement Team that Bowen leads plays a key role in charting the professional development path needed to implement these programs effectively. Bowen is also a dedicated coach and has received numerous accolades from his state professional association. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Education and a Master’s degree in Educational Leadership from Western Michigan University.