As a finalist for the 2007 Broad Prize for Urban Education, Northside ISD will receive $125,000 in scholarships for the Class of 2008. Though Northside was not named a winner of The Broad Prize Tuesday, school leaders said there are still many reasons to celebrate.
"Our students are still winners," said Superintendent John Folks, referring to the scholarship money. "It's a tremendous honor to be one of five finalists in the nation and to be recognized as one of the best school districts in the United States."
The New York City Department of Education was named the winner of the 2007 Broad Prize at a ceremony Tuesday in Washington, D.C. The prize is awarded annually to a large, urban school district that has made the greatest improvements in student achievement while closing gaps among ethnic groups and high and low-income students. New York City schools will receive $500,000.
U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings, who announced the winner, called the Broad Prize the "Oscar" of public education, adding that the prestige that is associated with it is immeasurable, even for the four finalist districts.
During her remarks, Spellings quoted Cable Elementary School reading specialist Kitty Hamilton. When a team of researchers and statisticians visited Northside as part of the Broad Prize selection process earlier this year, Hamilton told them that she initially thought all the benchmark testing Northside had implemented was terrible, but she soon realized the test results contained a gold mine of information that could help her students succeed.
"As we say in Texas, what gets measured gets done, and these school districts are an example of data-driven management," Spellings said.
The other Broad (rhymes with "road") finalists, which will also receive $125,000 are: Bridgeport Public Schools, Conn.; Long Beach Unified School District, Calif.; and Miami-Dade County Public Schools. Altogether, the prize amounts to $1 million, making it the largest education prize in the country.
"The Broad Foundation is a great advocate of public education and we really appreciate organizations like this which support kids every day," Folks said.
Northside was selected as a finalist because students here outperformed other students in other Texas districts with similar demographics in reading and math at all grade levels, according to The Broad Foundation. In addition, Northside test scores showed the gap was narrowing for minority and low-income students.
The Broad Foundation, based in Los Angeles, was established by Edythe and Eli Broad, a renowned business leader who founded two Fortune 500 companies, SunAmerica Inc. and KB Home. Based in Los Angeles, The Broad Foundation's mission is to dramatically improve K-12 urban public education through better governance, management, labor relations, and competition.
For more information about The Broad Prize, this year's finalists, and how the finalists and winner were selected, visit The Broad Prize website.
