Columbia Elementary and Sunnyland Elementary received School of Distinction awards today from the state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. Only 86 schools or the top 5 percent of Washington's 2,500 schools earned this honor for learning improvement in reading and math over the last six years.
Sunnyland principal Mary Anne Stuckart, Sunnyland teacher Laurie Decker, Columbia principal Missy Ferguson and Columbia teacher Joyce Sweeney represented their schools to accept the awards at Mount Rainier High School in Des Moines.
"Our staff and parent communities have worked diligently to provide the best education for our students. We have aligned our practice with the state standards, while keeping the whole child in mind," Ferguson said. "We truly care about our students and believe in their abilities as learners."
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. 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.
"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," Washington Superintendent of Public Instruction Terry Bergeson said. "The increased performance recognized by these awards is evidence of the educational transformation taking place in our schools."
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 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. "
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