Dana Sprinkle was an elementary school teacher for 13 years before becoming principal of EllSaline Elementary, a rural school where nearly half of all students receive free or reduced-price
meals. Committed to collaborative and distributed leadership, Sprinkle draws on the expertise of
staff and parents as the facilitator of the school’s leadership team, which she has developed over
the ten-year course of her tenure. Under her guidance, the team has developed and implemented
a variety of initiatives that respond to achievement and demographic data to improve student
wellbeing and performance. Such initiatives include a school-wide behavior plan, parent
enrichment nights, and Ell-Saline “family groups,” which give sustained, weekly opportunities
for students to engage in social and emotional learning. Grounded in Sprinkle’s passionate
interest in education for the whole child, “family groups” developed as a response to increasing
poverty in the community, as well as an increased number of foster care students, autistic
students, and students with mental health diagnoses. Sprinkle has also implemented full-day
Kindergarten and a school-wide reading program with Tier 2 and Tier 3 intervention, both to
great effect. She currently serves as her district’s Testing Coordinator and is consistently
described by her colleagues as driven, passionate, and dedicated. Sprinkle holds a B.S. in
Education, an M.S. in Administration from Kansas State University, Manhattan, and a certificate
in District Leadership from Emporia State University in Emporia, Kansas.