Published: October 09, 2008 12:00 pm      

These schools get four stars

Three local schools are among the best in the state.

Suellen Reed, superintendent of Public Instruction for Indiana, recently announced that three local schools are among 179 Hoosier public schools to be honored with the 2007 Four Star School Award.

The three honored schools — Benton Elementary, Westview Junior-Senior High School and Westview Elementary — were selected out of a pool of 1,819 Indiana public schools currently eligible for the Four Star designation.

According to Reed, the award is the highest state distinction a school can receive and is based on student achievement on ISTEP+ assessments and overall attendance rates.

“We are pleased to recognize 179 Indiana schools for their exceptionally high performance,” Reed said in a recent statement. “We would also like to acknowledge the work of those schools that were fractions of a point away from this honor and applaud them for their efforts. We encourage all Hoosier schools to continue in their endeavors to boost student success.”

To earn the distinction, a school must be accredited by the Indiana State Board of Education, meet Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) as defined by The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, and perform in the top 25 percent of all the schools in the state in each of the following four areas: student attendance rates, mathematics proficiency scores, English/language arts proficiency scores, and the percent of students passing both English/language arts and mathematics.

“I think it’s great for us. It shows the effort our teachers put into education, and also the effort our kids put into education,” said Rich Cory, principal of Westview Junior-Senior High School. “To me, I’m like a proud parent as principal of the school. I think it really indicates the type of parents and kids we have in this community.”

Dan Sharp, principal of Benton Elementary, also noted his delight at learning the school had received the Four Star honor.

“Obviously we’re very pleased for the students and the staff and the school community,” Sharp said. “We feel it’s a combination of a lot of factors coming together: the depth and caring of the parents, the quality of the students and the dedication and hard work of our staff.”

According to Westview Elementary School Principal Juli Leeper, while she is fairly new to the position, what she has experienced during her time with the school has been nothing but exemplary.

“Well, I’m new to this position, and so I can’t take credit for the award, but what I’ve witnessed since I’ve been here has been phenomenal,” Leeper said. “I think the award really demonstrates the evident partnership we have between the parents, staff and students, and it certainly sets the bar for my continued leadership here at Westview Elementary to be able to maintain this level of success.

“I’m very proud and feel very fortunate to be a part of this school, and look forward to working toward future successes,” she said.