M-DCPS leaders travel to New York City for prestigious honor

MIAMI – Miami-Dade public school leaders will travel to New York City this week to receive honors as one of the nation's best-achieving school districts.

School Board Chair Agustin J. Barrera, Vice Chair Perla Tabares Hantman, Board Members Evelyn Langlieb Greer and Ana Rivas Logan, along with Superintendent Rudolph F. "Rudy" Crew, will attend the Broad Foundation's annual Broad Prize awards luncheon on Tuesday, which honors the nation's best achieving school districts. Miami-Dade County Public Schools is one of five finalists for the honor and will receive $125,000 for student scholarships.

State Representative Gustavo Barreiro, UTD President Karen Aronowitz and TotalBank Chairman Adrienne Arsht are also scheduled to attend.

Students in the district – particularly low-income, African-American and Hispanic students – demonstrated strong improvement in math performance between 2002 and 2005.
The district has narrowed achievement gaps between low-income and higher income students and between African-American and Hispanic students and their white counterparts in elementary and middle school reading and math from 2003-2005.
Hispanic students in Miami-Dade outperformed their peers across the state in elementary and high school reading and math in 2005.

The Broad (pronounced “brode”) Prize for Urban Education honors the nation’s urban school districts that improve student achievement while reducing achievement gaps among ethnic groups and between high- and low-income students. The winner of The Broad Prize will receive $500,000 in scholarships for graduating seniors and is the largest education award in the country given to a single school district.