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Muncy Receives Second Achievement Award

By Staff | Nov 19, 2008

More than 2,100 Pennsylvania schools will be honored this year with Keystone Achievement Awards for showing sustained academic progress, Education Secretary Gerald L. Zahorchak announced.

“These awards are testament to the tremendous efforts of the students, teachers and staff at each of these schools,” Zahorchak said.

The awards are being given to public schools that achieved adequate yearly progress (AYP) in the 2005-06 and 2006-07 school years. Progress is measured in part by a school’s performance on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment, the standardized test given annually to students in grades 3-8 and 11.

Each school that earns a Keystone Achievement Award receives a large, keystone-shaped placard that can be displayed at the school.

“If there is one award that a school should proudly show off to visitors, it is the Keystone Achievement Award,” the secretary said. “It is proof to all who visit the school that they are at an institution that cares about ensuring every child succeeds.”

Since 2004, the Department of Education has partnered with the Pennsylvania Association of Federal Program Coordinators to present the awards as a public recognition of the quality work and commitment shown by students and educators.

Of the 2,138 schools receiving Keystone Achievements Awards this year:

• 196 are receiving their first-ever award for achieving AYP in 2005-06 and 2006-07.

• 1,350 have received the award for each of the four years it has existed, meaning they achieved AYP every year since 2002-03.

• 445 are receiving their third award since the program’s inception.

• 147 are receiving their second award, including 100 that have achieved AYP for three consecutive years (2004-05 through 2006-07) and 47 that have made AYP in 2002-03 and 2003-04 and again in 2005-06 and 2006-07.

While more than two-thirds of Pennsylvania’s 3,100 public schools are receiving Keystone Achievement Awards, Zahorchak said there is still work to be done and progress to be made in ensuring that every student in Pennsylvania is academically proficient.

“We have set high expectations for our students and the response has been encouraging,” he said. “We must continue to build on these accomplishments so all of our children succeed. I look forward to the day when I can announce that every school in Pennsylvania has earned a Keystone Achievement Award.”

For more information on the Keystone Achievement Awards and Pennsylvania’s other education initiatives, visit the Department of Education Web site at www.pde.state.pa.us.