Superintendent Charlotte D. Placide, Mayor-President Melvin "Kip" Holden, East Baton Rouge Parish School Board members, and other school officials were on hand for a school wide celebration on November 16, 2006, in recognition of Shenandoah Elementary receiving the Blue Ribbon School Award from the U.S. Department of Education.
Shenandoah Elementary was one of only 5 Louisiana schools to receive the prestigious Blue Ribbon Schools Award this year. In the last 24 years, only 6 area schools have received this distinction. Three of those schools have come from the East Baton Rouge Parish School System.
The Blue Ribbon Schools Program recognizes schools that make significant progress in closing the achievement gap, or whose students achieve at very high levels.
The U.S. Department of Education this year awarded Blue Ribbon honors to 280 schools from among 412 schools that applied. Shenandoah Elementary was among the 5 schools selected in Louisiana.
Congratulations, Carolyn Sauer and your outstanding team of teachers and staff!
Full Story in The Advocate
http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/4424376.html
PRESS RELEASE 10/16/2006
U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings today announced that five schools in
Louisiana have been named as 2006 No Child Left Behind - Blue Ribbon Schools.
The No Child Left Behind - Blue Ribbon Schools Program recognizes schools that make significant progress in closing the achievement gap or whose students achieve at very high levels. The schools are selected based on one of two criteria:
· Schools with at least 40 percent of their students from disadvantaged backgrounds that dramatically improve student performance to high levels on state tests
Schools whose students, regardless of background, achieve in the top 10 percent of their state on state tests or in the case of private schools in the top 10 percent of the nation on nationally-normed tests.
Under No Child Left Behind, schools must make Adequate Yearly Progress, or AYP, in reading and language arts and mathematics. Each state—not the federal government—sets its own academic standards and benchmark goals, because each state knows best what goals and criteria are most appropriate for its school districts.
Every state, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, has an assigned number of possible schools based on the number of students and the number of schools in the state. A total of 413 schools can be nominated. The state's CCSO nominates public schools and the Council for American Private Education (CAPE) nominates private schools. Once the secretary has the nominations from the CCSO and CAPE, the secretary invites the nominated schools to submit applications for possible recognition as a No Child Left Behind - Blue Ribbon School.
"These schools show what wonderful accomplishments can be made when we focus on the bottom line in education – student achievement," Spellings said. "All of these schools have students from all subgroups who've made impressive test gains or who scored in the top tier on state tests. They are outstanding examples of how all students can achieve to higher standards."
The 2006 No Child Left Behind - Blue Ribbon Schools will be honored at an awards ceremony in Washington, D.C., November 9-10.
Further information on the program and a list of current winners can be accessed at http://www.ed.gov/programs/nclbbrs/awards.html
