Anderson County Schools celebrated Fairview Elementary School's "state championship" on October 5 at the school.
"Principal Karen Cupples, her staff and students, and the families all deserve our congratulations on receiving the first-ever elementary school award from SCORE," said Larry Foster, director of schools.
SCORE - the State Collaborative on Reforming Education - held its inaugural competition for the outstanding elementary, middle, and high schools in Tennessee this year, awarding $10,000 prizes for exceptional achievement at each level, as well as a school district award of $25,000.
Cupples accepted the award "on behalf of the whole community" when Fairview was named the elementary school winner in ceremonies at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville on Sept. 22.
In addition to the school's current staff and students numerous former staff members and students also came by to celebrate the award.
"We are all in this together - there's a history of collaboration here that is so important to our success," Cupples said. "Being singled out from the 765 elementary schools in the state is just such an honor - for all of us."
On September 20 the State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE) announced the four winners of the first annual SCORE Prize Award at an event at the historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. The winners, three schools and one school district, were recognized for dramatically improving student achievement in spite of the challenges they face. The awards show featured remarks from Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam, SCORE Chairman and former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, Tennessee Commissioner of Education Kevin Huffman, and SCORE CEO Jamie Woodson.
The 2011 SCORE Prize winners included Fairview Elementary School - Anderson County!
The SCORE Prize school winners received $10,000, and the district winner received $25,000. Winners were chosen in a two-step process; the first stage identified finalists through a multi-staged criteria selection process that set benchmarks for attendance rate, TVAAS growth, and TCAP improvement, and awarded bonus points for ACT college-readiness benchmark rates and college-going rates, among others; the second stage consisted of site visits of the finalists to document the policies and practices that have enabled schools and districts to make significant gains in student achievement.
Fairview Elementary serves 278 students in Anderson County. 60.6 percent of the school's students are economically disadvantaged. In the last year, the school has increased its number of students who are proficient or advanced on the math TCAP from the 30th decile to the 50th decile. Fairview's three-year TVAAS growth average is 14.01 in math and 8.99 in reading.
In the coming weeks, SCORE will release videos and case studies of all 12 SCORE Prize finalists. This work will be used to highlight best practices in improving public education in Tennessee.
