For immediate releasecontact Susanne Smith, (503) 947-5637 March 8, 2010 Castillo Names Oregon Schools Making Strong Gains in Closing the Achievement Gap SALEM – State Schools Superintendent Susan Castillo today named fifteen Oregon public schools that have made significant progress in closing the achievement gap. The announcement was made today at a press conference at River Road/El Camino del Rio Elementary School in Eugene. Each school named for the award has demonstrated significant improvement in student achievement for minority and/or low income students. This is the sixth year that Castillo has recognized schools for the Celebrating Student Success Awards. This year there are ten Champion Schools and five Continuing Success Schools. The Champion Schools will each receive a $3,000 award and the Continuing Success Schools will each receive a $1,000 award. School awards are sponsored by Oregon businesses. All fifteen schools will receive trophies and recognition in the Oregonian on Sunday, March 14th. “These schools all demonstrate the incredible power of strong leadership, quality instruction, and high expectations for all students,” Castillo said. “They prove that it can be done – students can overcome poverty, cultural differences, and other challenges and succeed. My goal is to highlight examples of what is being accomplished in our public schools and send a very important message to all of Oregon about helping all children achieve.” Castillo initiated the Celebrating Student Success Award in 2005 to recognize leadership within Oregon’s K-12 public school system and highlight schools that have made significant progress toward closing the academic achievement gap. Special thanks go to the Portland Schools Foundation, whose work inspired these awards. Selected schools made it through a data screen that identified schools where student subpopulations (minority groups, students with limited English, special education students, etc.) made significant progress compared to the comparison groups (white students, English speaking students, non-special education, etc.). Student cohorts were analyzed using data from 2004-05 through 2008-09. A team reviewed the data and examined both school to state comparisons and within school comparisons. Statewide report card and AYP data was also analyzed. Schools demonstrating the strongest subpopulation growth (and hence the most progress in closing the achievement gap) were invited to submit an application for further review. A Blue Ribbon Panel composed of educators, business leaders, Youth Advisory Team student members and community members reviewed the data and the applications and made recommendations to Superintendent Castillo. The following fifteen schools are the winners for the 2010 Celebrating Student Success Awards: 2010 Celebrating Student Success Champion Schools:
2010 Continuing Success Schools:
Thanks to the generous support of AIR, title sponsor for the 2010 Celebrating Student Success Awards. Founded in 1946 as a not-for-profit organization, the American Institutes for Research (AIR) is one of the world’s largest educational research and assessment development firms. The Celebrating Student Success Award recognition program could not be possible without the support of all 2010 Celebrating Student Success sponsors: *Chambers Productions *College Board *Fred Meyer *Intel *Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) *The Oregonian *Oregon Education Association (OEA) *Oregon School Boards Association (OSBA)
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