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Schools of Distinction honored
State Superintendent presents new Learning Improvement Awards to 86 schools
OLYMPIA - Oct. 10, 2007 - Dramatic improvements in their students’ reading and mathematics skills have earned 86 Washington schools the 2007 State Superintendent’s Learning Improvement Award and the designation of "School of Distinction."
Washington Superintendent of Public Instruction Terry Bergeson and members of her cabinet presented the awards at sites around the state this morning. About 200 principals, superintendents, teachers and parents from the winning schools joined Bergeson for the main awards ceremony at Mount Rainier High School in Des Moines. Mount Rainier was among the schools receiving the School of Distinction honor. Simultaneous local award ceremonies were hosted at Educational Service Districts and school districts for winning school leaders and staff who were not able to travel to the main ceremony.
"We created this award to honor and celebrate the amazing progress schools have made – and continue to make – in helping our students acquire the knowledge and skills that will serve them the rest of their lives," Bergeson said. "The increased performance recognized by these awards is evidence of the educational transformation taking place in our schools."
The Schools of Distinction represent the top 5 percent of elementary, middle and high schools whose students have shown outstanding growth in both reading and mathematics skills during a six-year period. The winning schools are composed of 51 elementary schools, 20 middle schools and 15 high schools – out of nearly 2,500 schools in the state.
To be considered for the award, each school had to meet the current year’s state learning targets on the Washington Assessment of Student Learning for students in both reading and mathematics.
Schools that met the reading and mathematics targets were then evaluated for six-year gains on the state’s "Learning Improvement Index." Because the award is based on improvement across a six-year period, only results from grades four, seven and 10 were used, as those are the only grade levels with six years of trend data.
Independent research and analysis to establish criteria for the awards and to identify the schools with the greatest improvement was conducted by Greg Lobdell of the Center for Educational Effectiveness in Redmond.
The principals of the award-winning schools said high goals, great teaching and continual program improvement are the keys to their schools’ success.
"We resolved to become ‘The Best School in the State,’ period! No matter how we were evaluated, or by whom," said Mount Rainier Principal Toni Pace. "We're not there yet, but we're endeavoring in every possible way to achieve our shared goal." Mount Rainier saw some of its greatest gains during some of its most challenging times. For the past two years, Mount Rainier faculty, staff and about 1,300 students were crowded into a former elementary/middle school while a new high school was being built on the site of the old one.
School leaders from each of the winning schools were presented with awards and a large banner reading "School of Distinction – 2007 State Superintendent’s Learning Improvement Award."
"We will always be working to improve our public schools because our students’ needs constantly change and we continually get smarter about how to help them learn," Bergeson said. "But we all need to stop every once in a while and celebrate the successes in our schools and the hard work and dedication of students, teachers, administrators, support staff, parents and communities. Everyone who has contributed to these Schools of Distinction should be immensely proud of what they’ve accomplished.
"From Curlew to Coulee City, from Tacoma to Toppenish, from Cape Flattery to College Place, from Methow Valley to Monroe – wonderful things are happening in the classroom. It’s my honor to help celebrate them with this award," Bergeson said.
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