ALL THREE of Glens Falls’ elementary schools have been named “Recognition Schools” by the NYS Education Department for high academic achievement and student growth during the 2017-18 school year! Only 328 elementary/middle schools across the state received this honor, and Glens Falls earned three of just five awards given within the WSWHE BOCES area.
“These schools serve as models of the levels of performance we seek for all schools to be able to achieve in the future,” said Board of Regents Chancellor Betty A. Rosa.
For several years and district-wide, Glens Falls has centered on a “Rigor-Relevance-Relationships” framework for educating students. And elementary achievement stems from a wide range of learning engagements—everything from literacy and instructional coaching, to 1-to-1 Chromebook access, to student-centered classroom furnishings, to therapy dog reading buddies.
Recognition Schools are identified as such because they:
- are among the top performing under ESSA for performance, student growth and/or graduation rate;
- met or exceeded benchmarks for ELA and math achievement, rate of chronic absenteeism, and College, Career, and Civic Readiness;
- and met the federally-required 95 percent participation rate in the English language arts and mathematics assessments.
“We are very proud of the work being done by our students, teachers, staff, and administrators,” said Superintendent Paul Jenkins. “Being recognized for continued growth in student performance, lowering chronic absenteeism, and increasing participation on state assessments is a testament to the concerted effort of our entire school community as we have raised our expectations for our students. Each building has focused on tracking student data regarding excessive absences and performance on assessments for the last three years and our principals have been working closely with families and students to lower the number of students and parents who choose to opt out of state tests, even with the challenges we have faced from the computer based testing program.”
“We are grateful for the partnerships we have developed with our school community to achieve this recognition,” echoed Asst. Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction Trent Clay. “We appreciate the hard work by our faculty to plan and deliver high quality instruction, and the amazing support of our families and the Glens Falls community.”
The honors come right on the heels of the High School and District advancing off the “Focus” list earlier this spring. To read the entire Recognition Schools announcement from NYSED, click here. Way to go, GF NATION!!
