Highland Middle School Principal Anissa Bereano was named the 2015 Washington State Middle Level Principal of the Year by a panel of principals representing a component of the Association of Washington School Principals, beating out eight other nominees from across the state.

Bereano has been principal at Highland since 2008, coming in after two other principals in as many years, and during the first year of adequate yearly progress sanction and low staff morale.

Measurements of student progress in 2014 showed a 70-percent passage rate in math and 82 percent in reading. The school has also reduced suspensions by 71 percent, according to the AWSP.