Springs School Gets U.S. Award; Abrams Elementary Honored for Gains
Posted on: Thursday, 29 September 2005, 03:00 CDT
By BRIAN NEWSOME THE GAZETTE
The ability to overcome poverty, the stresses of war and a minority achievement gap have earned a Pikes Peak region elementary school national recognition.
Abrams Elementary School, in Fountain-Fort Carson School District 8, was named a national Blue Ribbon school, one of only four such schools in Colorado and 295 nationwide, the U.S. Department of Education announced Friday.
"The achievement gap is closing, and that is great news for every student," Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings said in a news release. "These Blue Ribbon schools are an example of what teachers and students can achieve."
The school was nominated by the Colorado Department of Education, based on its marked improvement on Colorado Student Assessment Program tests despite the odds.
Nearly every child at Abrams, on Fort Carson, is from a military family. Many of them have parents in Iraq. About 46 percent qualify for the federal free and reduced lunch program, a chief indicator of poverty. Half are minorities.
Yet CSAP scores have steadily increased. From 2001 to 2004, scores in fourth-grade reading rose from 56 percent proficient or advanced to 74 percent, said assistant superintendent Mike Miles. Fifth-grade math scores rose from 45 percent proficient or advanced to 65 percent.
The school also narrowed the achievement gap between whites and minorities in that period. Minority students improved by 50 percent in reading, 300 percent in writing, Miles said.
Miles credited the school's accomplishments to a nocuse culture. "It would be easy to make excuses when you have a war, when you have a parent to bury, and things like that."
The Blue Ribbon program, affiliated with the federal No Child Left Behind Act, recognizes:
Public schools in the top 10 percent of their state tests.
Private schools in the top 10 percent of the nation.
Schools with 40 percent or more of their students from disadvantaged backgrounds that show dramatic improvement on state tests.
Abrams was acknowledged for the third criterion.
The other Colorado Blue Ribbon schools are Bradford Elementary School, in Pueblo; Liberty Common School, in Fort Collins, and Maple Grove Elementary School, in Golden.
CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0198 or bnewsome@gazette.com
Source: Gazette, The; Colorado Springs, Colo.
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