A Missouri 1999 Title 1 National Distinguished School

Following is the press release from the Hamilton Advocate newspaper (12-16-98):

It's only been five years since New York              ment in the Title 1 program for reading and math
School faced the challenge of overcoming the       were other reasons for the award, one of only
stigma of being an unclassified school district.       two given this year in Missouri.  Eighty percent
Now the school has not only attained classifi-       of the school's students were in the upper two
cation but achieved a Title 1 Distinguished            levels of scoring on the math portion of the MMAT,
Schools Award.  Monday, the supervisor of         while no students were in the lower rankings.
Federal Program Assistance from the Missouri             The school's curriculum has been entirely
Department of Elementary and Secondary Edu-    re-written in the past five years and Ellis said it's
cation was at the school to go over details of         now a "hands-on" program, not something
the award that will be presented at a national         gathering dust on a shelf.  Part of the district's
conference in San Diego next spring.                     mission is to make school a fun place that kids
     "It's especially great for such a small school      want to come to every day, she added.
to receive this award," said Michael Alexander,               The other district recognized this year for
the DESE supervisor.  New York Principal           Title 1 programs was Spickard, another school
Debbie Ellis credited parental involvement and       that was formerly unaccredited.  Spickard's en-
staff and student work in the dramatic improve-     rollment is about 70, while New York currently
ment on MMAT scores, part of the criteria for       has about 40 students.
the award. Alexander said the school's low
teacher-student ratio, and all-school involve-
 
 
 
 

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