Teachers at East Ridge Elementary have an extra reason to be grateful on Thanksgiving break -- their hard work earned the school a national award.
Officials from the Tennessee Department of Education informed them recently that, because of two years of high standardized test scores, the school was named a National Title I Distinguished School.
Two winners are chosen each year to receive a $7,500 award.
The award is available only to schools such as East Ridge, whose students mostly are low-income and receive free or reduced-price lunch.
Low-income students typically come to school with greater academic and social needs than others, Department of Education spokeswoman Rachel Woods said.
"To have great success with these students is certainly a great achievement for those teachers and for the district," she said.
Ninety-three percent of East Ridge's students scored proficient or advanced in reading on state standardized tests in 2008 and 2009. In math, 88 percent scored proficient in 2008 and 86 percent in 2009, according to the state report card.
East Ridge is only the second Hamilton County school to receive the national award, said principal Sharon Watts. The other winner was Garber Elementary, which closed in 2002.
When Ms. Watts came to East Ridge 10 years ago, the school did not even qualify for federal Title I money because it had too few poor students.
"Now we're at about 70 percent to 80 percent, but our test scores continue to go up. That's unusual," she said.
Ms. Watts, who treated her staff to a luncheon for their achievement, said the recognition of East Ridge's efforts is rewarding.
"You work really hard and sometimes you feel nobody notices. And then this happens, and you're like, 'OK, this is all worth it,'" she said.
SCHOOL OF DISTINCTION
For winning the National Title I School of Distinction, East Ridge Elementary School received $7,500, with $5,000 going to the school. The remaining $2,500 goes toward travel expenses to send principal Sharon Watts and a team from the school to be honored at a National Title I conference in January in Washington, D.C.
Kelli Gauthier covers K-12 education in Hamilton County for the Times Free Press. She started at the paper as an intern in 2006, crisscrossing the region writing feature stories from Pikeville, Tenn., to Lafayette, Ga. She also covered crime and courts before taking over the education beat in 2007. A native of Frederick, Md., Kelli came south to attend Southern Adventist University in Collegedale, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in print journalism. Before newspapers, ...
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