FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Erica Lepping

April 5, 2006

310-954-5053

 

Miami-Dade County Public Schools Named 2006 Finalist

For $1 Million Broad Prize;

One of Top Urban Districts Honored for Improving Student Achievement

 

LOS ANGELES – The Broad Foundation announced today that Miami-Dade County Public Schools is one of five finalists for the 2006 Broad Prize for Urban Education, an annual $1 million prize given to urban school districts that have made the greatest increases in student achievement.

 

The other finalists are:

 

 

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 Prize is the largest education award in the country given to a single school district.

 

The winner of The Broad Prize will receive $500,000 in scholarships for graduating seniors. Each finalist district will receive $125,000 in scholarships.  The winner will be announced on Sept. 20 at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

 

“The strength of our nation depends on the strength of our schools, especially those in large urban districts that serve so many of our children,” said Eli Broad, founder of The Broad Foundation.  “Miami-Dade is doing what some say is impossible – improving students’ performance, regardless of their race or family income – while at the same time closing persistent achievement gaps.  Other urban districts nationwide can learn a great deal from what is working in Miami-Dade.”

 

Among the reasons Miami-Dade County Public Schools was chosen as a finalist:

 

·               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 outperform their peers across the state in elementary and high school reading and math in 2005.

 

The Broad Prize was started in 2002.  The inaugural winner was the Houston Independent School District, followed by two California districts – Long Beach Unified School District in 2003 and Garden Grove Unified School District in 2004 – and Norfolk Public Schools in Virginia last year.

 

This is the first year Miami-Dade County Public Schools has been a finalist, the second year for the New York City Department of Education, and the fifth year for Boston Public Schools.

 

This year, 100 urban school districts nationwide were eligible for The Broad Prize.  The five finalist districts were selected based on a rigorous review of data compiled and analyzed by the National Center for Educational Accountability (NCEA).  A review board of 16 prominent educational leaders from across the country evaluated the data and selected the five finalist districts.

 

Over the next two months, teams of educational researchers and practitioners will conduct site visits at each of the finalist school districts to gather statistical and qualitative information, including interviews with district administrators, focus groups with teachers and principals, and classroom observations.  The teams will also talk to parents, community leaders, school board members and union representatives.  The performance data and site visit reports will then be presented to a selection jury, comprised of 13 prominent individuals nationwide from business, industry, education and public service, to choose the winning school district.

 

For more information about The Broad Prize and this year’s finalists, please visit www.broadprize.org.

 

The National Center for Educational Accountability, based in Austin, Texas, is a collaborative effort of the Education Commission of the States, the University of Texas at Austin, and Just for the Kids.  NCEA identifies best practices within school districts and schools and shares them with practitioners to promote widespread school improvement.  NCEA’s Internet address is www.nc4ea.org.

 

The Broad Foundation is a Los Angeles-based venture philanthropy established in 1999 by Eli and Edythe Broad. The Foundation’s mission is to dramatically improve student achievement in urban public school districts through better governance, management, labor relations and competition. The Broad Foundation’s Internet address is www.broadfoundation.org.                            

 

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