Garwood Elementary earns national recognition
Garwood Elementary, in the Lakeland Joint School District, is one of four Idaho schools to receive national recognition this year for its work with at-risk students.
Garwood is one of two Blue Ribbon nominees in the annual Distinguished Schools awards program that recognizes outstanding achievements by Title I schools from each state that are serving a high proportion of at-risk students.
Harold B. Lee Elementary in Dayton and Murtaugh Schools in Murtaugh were selected as this year’s Title 1-A Distinguished Schools for Idaho.
Garwood shares the Blue Ribbon nominee spot with Lincoln Elementary in Rexburg.
“This is truly one of the best parts of my job, recognizing Idaho schools and educators for outstanding efforts in helping their students achieve regardless of background, economic status or prior performance levels,” Idaho Superintendent of Public Instruction Sherri Ybarra said, in a news release. “With skill, hard work and individual attention, these educators accomplish amazing things.”
Distinguished Schools and Blue Ribbon nominees are covered by Title I-A, a federal program that provides funding to districts and schools, helping students who are most at risk meet state academic standards and be proficient on state assessments.
Garwood Elementary outperformed 88.6 percent of other Idaho schools by the same measure. Garwood improved its mathematics proficiency rate from 48.7 percent in 2015 to 62.2 percent in 2017, with strong improvement in the performance of students with disabilities and minority students.
National Blue Ribbon winners, two from each state, will be announced in September 2018. In order to be nominated for the award, a school must be in the top 15 percent of all schools in the state, ranked on the performance of all students who participated in the most recently administered state assessments in reading/English language arts and mathematics. Idaho nominees must have at least 40 percent of their students identified as low-income.
Idaho’s Distinguished Schools and Blue Ribbon nominees will each receive $15,000 from state Title I funds.