Disadvantaged children’s programs commended
Cooper Elementary School and Shaw Middle School have been named Washington State’s Title I Distinguished Schools, Spokane Public Schools officials said.
Title I is part of the federal No Child Left Behind Law, and designed to give disadvantaged children equitable access to a high-quality education, officials said.
The Title I Distinguished Schools program, a joint project of the U.S. Department of Education and the National Association of State Title I Directors, recognizes outstanding Title I schools.
Each state may nominate two schools, one in each of two categories, including for exceeding Adequate Yearly Progress in reading/language arts or math, measured by scores on the state WASL test. Schools can also be nominated for making the most progress in closing the achievement gap among certain subgroups of students, including the poor, minorities, disabled students, and students with limited English language proficiency.
Cooper wins the national award for outstanding student achievement in math and reading. Shaw won the award for closing the achievement gap, school officials said in a press release.
Cooper and Shaw join several other Spokane Title I schools given the distinction in the past, including Arlington, Audubon, Bemiss, Garfield, Grant, Longfellow, and Willard elementary schools.
St. George’s scholars
Twenty-seven current and former St. George’s School students have been named scholars for exceptional scores on Advanced Placement exams given in the spring.
Katherine Kerschen, a 2006 graduate, and current senior Daniel Copeland were named National AP Scholars, a status given to students who receive an average grade of at least four on all AP exams taken, and grades of four or higher on eight or more of these exams.
The following is a list of additional honors, based on how well a student scored.
AP Scholars of Distinction: Katharine Fischer, Kenneth Hong, Matthew Jackson, Minwook “Bill” Kang, Patricia O’Brien, Cordelia Revells, Jessica Rouse, Eric Schillinger, and Luca Valle, all graduates of 2006; Elisabeth De Leeuw, and Samuel Wagstaff, current seniors.
AP Scholar with Honors: Daniel Crane, Andrea “Tasha” Koontz, and Caitlin Mauk, 2006 graduates; Kerry Blake and Allison Lawrence, seniors.
AP Scholars: Danae Ervin, Brittany Hadley, Lauren Kirby, and Mackenzie Trail, 2006 graduates; Rosie Martinez, Mariah Ostheller, Colin Schilling, Erin Steenblik, and Divya Vishwanath, seniors.
St. George’s students took 144 AP exams in May. The Advanced Placement program allows students to take college-level courses in high school.
Students take an exam in the spring to determine whether they learned enough to skip certain required courses in college, and some students receive college credit.
Rally for Reading
The Spokane Chapter of Executive Women International will host a Reading Rally on Saturday at Browne Elementary School.
More than 90 students in third- through fifth-grade from Browne, Finch, and Ridgeview Elementary schools are registered to hear children’s author Kenn Nesbitt read from his newly published book, “Santa Got Stuck in the Chimney” and other collections of poetry.
The Spokane Chapter of EWI organizes two reading rallies each year to promote reading and writing to children. Literacy has been the focus of the Spokane Chapter of EWI since 1992, officials with the organization said in a press release.
The group held a rally at the Spokane Boys’ and Girls Club in October, where more than 66 members in grades three through five came to hear Nesbitt. The event is also part of “Make A Difference Day,” a national initiative to promote voluntarism in communities.