Celebrating Student Success - 2007
The 2007 Celebrating Student Success Banquet was held at the Oregon Convention Center on May 11th, 2007.
The Celebrating Student Success Banquet takes information from the conference one step further by uniting members of the community, business people, civic leaders and educators in a forum aimed at celebrating leadership within the K-12 school system that are making great strides in narrowing the achievement gap.
-= Celebrating Student Success 2007 =-
Recipient Schools
Each year, schools from around the state are recognized for their outstanding work in closing the achievement gap. The seven 2007 Celebrating Student Success Award Recipients are listed below along with their stories and videos.
Each recipient school received a $2000 grant award and was honored at the Celebrating Student Success Banquet on May 11th, 2007.
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2007 Celebrating Student Success
All of the Celebrating Student Success Recipients demonstrate a commitment to key themes. These themes were highlighted in the three short videos below.
Armand Larive Middle School
You're never too young to start thinking about college, at least not at Armand Larive Middle School. Students, many of whom come from families without a history of college attendance, are introduced to higher education early through visits to the local community college and university.
See video link below.
2007 CTAG Recipient 
03/15/2007 (91.91 KB)
Armand Larive Middle School Video
Gilbert Heights Elementary
Gilbert Heights credits their turn around to the “Big Idea”: creating professional learning teams focused on educator collaboration and student achievement. Thanks to a focus on data and a collaborative teaching approach, Gilbert Heights has seen student achievement skyrocket.
See video link below.
2007 CTAG Recipient 04/10/2007 (87.48 KB)
Gilbert Heights Elementary Video
Howard Elementary School
Howard Elementary’s commitment to excellence begins at the beginning, in kindergarten. All Howard students take part in full-day kindergarten and the work and focus has paid off. By the end of the school year, more than 90% of Howard’s kindergarteners are reading. This early training is reinforced in higher grades with a focus on literacy and 90 minute reading blocks.
See video link below.
2007 CTAG Recipient 03/09/2007 (85.35 KB)
Howard Elementary Video
Keizer Elementary
Keizer Elementary staff considers themselves a professional learning community where teachers meet weekly to discuss curriculum, instruction and assessment and to collaborate on professional development. These meetings resulted in increased focus on areas such as testing preparation and students with limited English proficiency. Keizer staff learned that it is not enough to work hard – both staff and students also have to work smart.
See video link below.
2007 CTAG Recipient 03/15/2007 (86.48 KB)
Keizer Elementary Video
Metzger Elementary
Metzger Elementary was a Celebrating Student Success finalist in 2006 and when Principal Karen Twain attended the award banquet last year, she made a point of taking notes about what other successful schools were doing. She noticed that several winning schools had full-day kindergarten and she came away from the event convinced of its value. She started lobbying the district to let her keep kindergarteners all day, too.
See video link below.
2007 CTAG Recipient 03/15/2007 (85.58 KB)
Metzger Elementary Video
Prairie Mountain School
Just five years old, Prairie Mountain School was created with a vision of a learning community where the success of each child is at the heart of all decisions. As a result, the school’s core educational philosophy is shared by every teacher in the school. Prairie Mountain School is committed to academic rigor but also to empowering students and making them feel a part of the community.
See video link below.
2007 CTAG Recipient 03/15/2007 (32.05 KB)
Prairie Mountain School Video
Clark Elementary
Clark Elementary from Portland Public Schools was recognized in partnership with the Portland Schools Foundation’s Excellence in Education Awards. Two other schools, Astor Elementary and Faubion Elementary, were recognized for their Sustaining Excellence.
See video link below.
Clark Elementary Video
Finalists
Each Finalist school received a trophy and was honored at the Celebrating Student Success banquet on May 11th.
Chenowith Elementary
Chenowith’s demographics have changed dramatically over the years from a homogeneous mostly middle-class neighborhood to a diverse and more economically disadvantaged student body. Today, 70% of students qualify for free or reduced school lunches, and 1 in 3 students is a minority. But the school stands proud of its diversity and its achievements.
2007 CTAG Finalist 03/26/2007 (28.48 KB)
Cherry Park Elementary
Cherry Park staff strive to meet state academic achievements goals by providing appropriate activities and an integrated curricula; creating a positive,
energetic school community to enhance self-esteem and empower students; providing a safe encouraging
environment by clearly establishing behavioral expectations; providing strong communication and
actively involving parents in the education of their children; and collaborating with community and
support agencies to meet the culturally diverse needs of students and their families.
2007 CTAG Finalist 04/10/2007 (30.41 KB)
Springfield Middle School
Springfield Middle School wholeheartedly embraces new technology, issuing every student a laptop computer to go along with their textbooks. By making technology available to all, Springfield ensures that its students, 9 of 10 of whom are economically disadvantaged, don’t wind up on the wrong side of the digital divide.
2007 CTAG Finalist 03/26/2007 (85.83 KB)
Talmadge Middle School
Talmadge Middle School stresses collaboration and shared decision-making. Five years ago, the school created leadership cadres that focused on key academic priorities. The cadres developed school-wide instructional plans for literacy, math, and school climate, identifying goals and specific strategies for achieving them.
2007 CTAG Finalist 04/10/2007 (85.36 KB)
Vose Elementary
About half the students at Vose participate in their dual language immersion program. Vose Elementary sees multicultural knowledge, respect, and tolerance as among the most important of life skills, and commitment to this goal begins before children even start school, with summer home visits to kindergarten students to help with transitions and to make connections with families.
2007 CTAG Finalist 04/07/2007 (85.88 KB)
W.L. Henry Elementary
At W.L. Henry 4 of 5 students are economically disadvantaged and 1 of 2 are English Language Learners, but those statistics don’t stop every child from striving to be the best he or she can be. W. L. Henry offers full-day kindergarten, with a special program with smaller class sizes for struggling students. The school is also home to a two-way English/Spanish dual language immersion program.
2007 CTAG Finalist 04/07/2007 (85.45 KB)
Continuing Success Schools
This year, ODE created a new award to recognize schools who are past celebrating student success winners and who are continuing to show great gains in closing the achievement gap. Each Continuing Success School received a trophy and was honored at the Celebrating Student Success banquet on May 11th.
Aloha-Huber Park School
Aloha-Huber Park School is unique but it is part of a growing trend – the transition to K-8 schools. The school’s program model was designed by and for its community. By investing in full-day kindergarten and bilingual education, Aloha-Huber Park has shown commitment to early childhood education and equal education opportunities.
2007 Continuing Success 04/07/2007 (85.35 KB)
Forest Grove High School
Forest Grove High School is a big school organized into smaller learning communities giving students the opportunity to connect with teachers. The school offers a rich curriculum for all students. For students not meeting benchmarks, mandatory reading and math workshops provide them with extra help in these subjects. For students looking for a challenge, a wide variety of honors and advanced placement classes are offered, helping to prepare them for the future.
2007 Continuing Success 04/13/2007 (31.04 KB)