FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:  Elaine Naleski, 520-2286 or cell: 499-6448
                   Lori Butler, 328-5502

U.S. Secretary of Education Designates Colorado Springs School District 11’s
Chipeta Elementary as a Blue Ribbon School for 2009 

 U. S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan designated Colorado Springs School District 11’s Chipeta Elementary School as a Blue Ribbon School for 2009. Chipeta Elementary is one of 5 public and private schools from Colorado to receive this award for excellence in education.  This award acknowledges their efforts to help ensure that every child achieves and attains higher levels of performance and recognizes the school’s improvements in student achievement. The school will receive a plaque and a flag at the Blue Ribbon Schools awards ceremony in November.

The Blue Ribbon Schools Program honors public and private schools that are academically superior or have shown dramatic improvement in student achievement to high levels, especially among disadvantaged students.  These schools will serve as models for other schools throughout the nation and details of the achievements will be shared with others on the U. S. Department of Education’s website.

Chipeta Elementary School will be honored at an awards ceremony on November 3, 2009 at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, DC.  For the past 27 years, more than 6,150 of America’s schools have received this coveted award, including Grant Elementary School in 2007.

“These Blue Ribbon Schools have shown that all children can learn with appropriate supports,” Duncan said.  “They are producing outstanding results for their students. Some have shown dramatic improvements in places where students are overcoming the challenges of poverty, and others serve as examples of consistent excellence that can be a resource for other schools. They are places where improved teaching and learning benefits every student, and where students are challenged to meet high expectations with the active support of teachers, parents and the community.”

The award honors public and private elementary, middle, and high schools that are either academically superior, or have made dramatic gains in student achievement and helped close gaps in achievement among minority and disadvantaged students.  Each year since 1982, the U.S. Department of Education has sought out schools where students attain and maintain high academic goals. Using standards of excellence, as evidenced by student achievement measures and the characteristics known from research to exemplify school quality, the Department celebrates schools, including those that beat the odds.

The Blue Ribbon Schools Program honors public and private schools based on one of two criteria: 1) 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; and 2) Schools with at least 40 percent of their students from disadvantaged backgrounds that demonstrate dramatic improvement of student performance to high levels on state tests or nationally-normed tests.

In addition, public schools must meet Adequate Yearly Progress, or AYP, in reading (language arts) and mathematics.  Each state -- not the federal government -- sets its own academic standards and benchmark goals.