Two Region 12 Schools To Receive
Prestigious 2004 Blue Ribbon Schools Award
WACO – Crawford
and Gatesville
Elementary as well as 13 other Texas schools were
recently named 2004 No Child Left Behind—Blue
Ribbon Schools.
This is the second group of schools to be honored
under the new No Child Left Behind—Blue Ribbon
Schools Program (NCLB—BRS), which recognizes
outstanding public and private schools that are either
academically superior in their states or that demonstrate
dramatic and consistent gains in student achievement.
The program recognizes schools based on student
achievement results. Under the NCLB—BRS Program,
public schools are selected based on one of two criteria:
1. Schools with at least 40 percent of their students
from disadvantaged backgrounds that dramatically improve
student performance on state tests, as determined
by the state commissioner; and
2. Schools whose students, regardless of background,
achieve in the top 10 percent on reading and mathematics
state tests.
Under No Child Left Behind, schools also must meet
"Adequate Yearly Progress," or AYP, in reading/language
arts and mathematics, based on the state’s academic
standards and benchmark goals.
For the 2004 No Child Left Behind—Blue Ribbon
Schools Program, the Texas Education Agency used the
following criteria to select its national nominees:
“We are very proud of these
No Child Left Behind—Blue Ribbon Schools. They
represent a few of the thousands of outstanding campuses
that we have in Texas,” Neeley said. “They
have worked hard to earn this award by keeping the
main thing the main thing — the children they
proudly serve. These schools excelled in their performance
and I would like to congratulate the students, teachers,
administrators, parents and board members of these
schools. I offer my heartfelt congratulations to them
for the hard work and dedication that made this prestigious
award possible.”
The Blue Ribbon Schools Program was established
by the Education Department in 1982 and was redesigned
in 2002 under the NCLB program to reflect the program’s
high standards and accountability. The Blue Ribbon
School program will recognize schools that are meeting
the NCLB’s mission to “ensure every child
learns, and no child is left behind.” No Child
Left Behind—Blue Ribbon School Award recipients
will be recognized as national models of excellence.
The Secretary of Education Rod Paige and the United
States Department of Education (USDE) will honor the
Blue Ribbon School recipients and highlight their
achievements at a ceremony in Washington D.C. on November
4-5.
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