Governor Edward G. Rendell previously announced more than 2,000 schools, 75 percent of all schools in Pennsylvania, qualified to receive a Keystone Achievement Award for reaching, or exceeding, federal benchmarks set by the federal No Child Left Behind Act for two straight years.
Among those schools, both the Bellwood-Antis Middle School and High School were honored by the PA Department of Education recently with awards for meeting the Adequate Yearly Progress standards for two consecutive years.
The keystone-shaped award is being awarded to schools across the state where students have exceeded the math and reading standards required by the state’s accountability system and the federal No Child Left Behind Act. To meet AYP in the 2003-04 school year, at least 35 percent of students needed to reach proficiency in math and 45 percent proficiency in reading. For the 2004-05 and the current year, proficiency standards were raised to 45 percent proficiency in math and 54 percent proficiency in reading.
“Despite the higher targets prescribed by the No Child Left Behind Act, Pennsylvania schools demonstrated an ability to adapt, demand more of their students, and succeed,” Governor Rendell said in a press release. “We are also headed in the right direction as the number of schools that received or continue to receive multi-year awards has increased.”
The Bellwood-Antis Middle School is receiving its first Keystone Achievement Award for its high achieving students while the high school received its second award.
The teachers, school staff, parents, community and students have worked hard to achieve at this level. The Pennsylvania Department of Education has added the Pennsylvania Value-Added Assessment System to its evergrowing slate of tools that helps schools achieve at this sustained level of achievement.
This is the second year the Pennsylvania Department of Education and the Pennsylvania Association of Federal Program Coordinators have partnered to create the Keystone Achievement Award. Rendell said nearly all of the state’s 501 school districts had at least one school reach the goals, up to 490 from 443 last year. Statewide, 2,234 schools will be receiving this award and 1,567 will receive this award for the second time.
The Keystone Achievement Awards will be on display at the Bellwood-Antis Middle and High Schools.
