In a press release, the University of Louisville announced today that Dr. James Comer, Maurice Falk professor of child psychiatry at Yale University, has been named the  winner of the 2007 Grawemeyer Award in Education for his work Leave No Child Behind: Preparing Today’s Youth for Tomorrow’s World (Yale University Press 2004). The book details Dr. Comer’s School Development Program, a proven model that for thirty-five years has demonstrated how public schools can enable students from all backgrounds to learn at a high level and prepare for a fulfilling adult life.

In the program, teachers, parents, administrators and others at more than 600 low-performing U.S. schools are making decisions by consensus to improve the educational experience for students, noted the press release. The level of student achievement has gone up at many of the participating schools.

Comer, winner of the 17th Grawemeyer education prize, was selected from among 32 nominations. Elliot Eisner won the award in 2005 for his work, The Arts and the Creation of Mind (Yale University Press 2004).

The Grawemeyer Foundation at the University of Louisville annually awards $1 million – $200,000 each for works in music composition, education, ideas improving world order, religion and psychology. The Louisville Grawemeyer Award in Religion is given by the university and the Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary.

Awards founder Charles Grawemeyer, an industrialist, entrepreneur and University of Louisville graduate, wanted to reward powerful ideas or works in the sciences, arts and humanities.