Harvard Community Unit School District 50 is pleased to announce that Cosette Nawrocki has been named assistant principal at Harvard High School, effective July 1, 2026.
Nawrocki brings a background in bilingual education, assessment leadership and instructional support to the role. A Harvard native, she previously served District 50 as a Teacher on Special Assignment (TOSA) focused on assessments before pursuing her first assistant principal role at Dundee-Crown High School in Carpentersville, where she has served since July 2025.
"I'm most excited to work in the community that I grew up in," Nawrocki said. "Working in the district previously showed me the many hidden attributes that Harvard has. There is a true sense of community here. People care about each other."
At Dundee-Crown, Nawrocki led a comprehensive redesign of the school's ACCESS testing program, an undertaking that affected approximately 900 students. The initiative focused on reducing lost instructional time while strengthening the integrity of the testing environment. She also partnered with Family School Liaisons to create a resource hub connecting students and families to services both within the school and across the community, strengthening those relationships through regular, direct outreach to newcomer English learner classrooms.
Before stepping into administration, Nawrocki served Harvard CUSD 50 as its district-wide assessment TOSA, where she built out systems and documentation for district and state assessment coordination, analyzed data for staff and Board of Education presentations, and helped make student performance data more accessible and aligned to district goals. She previously taught Spanish and dual language courses at the high school level in Woodstock and fifth grade dual language at Washington STEM Academy in Belvidere.
Nawrocki is a Golden Apple Scholar, a distinction she earned as a high school senior, completing annual Summer Institutes and earning her Crystal Apple after five years of teaching in a school of need. She holds a bachelor's degree in Spanish language and literature from Rockford University and a master's degree in educational leadership from Aurora University. She holds endorsements in Spanish K-12 and transitional bilingual education, as well as her Illinois principal endorsement.
Nawrocki looks forward to supporting the continued growth of Harvard's Dual Language program and using community feedback to strengthen the connection between Harvard High School and the families it serves.