By Mary O’KEEFE

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson announced this week that 106 public schools will be receiving the 2013-14 Title I Academic Achievement Award including four schools from Glendale Unified School District.

Cerritos, Horace Mann, Mark Keppel and Thomas Edison elementary schools were all recognized with the award.

“This is another great recognition [and] we are very proud of the schools,” said GUSD Superintendent Richard Sheehan. “This year four schools were recognized. It is a tribute to how hard the kids and teachers are working.”

“I am proud of what these schools have accomplished under often challenging circumstances,” Torlakson stated. “Their administrators and teachers are committed to giving their students every opportunity to gain the knowledge and skills that will help them in school and throughout their lives.”

Sheehan added this recognition reflected a time when the school district was dealing with declining resources.

“Our personnel and administrators have gone above and beyond in these four [schools] that were recognized [and that is] true of all our schools throughout Glendale/La Crescenta,” Sheehan said.

The Title I Academic Achievement Award is given to schools receiving federal Title I funds as authorized by the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Title I, the single largest federal educational program for K-12 public education, assists schools in meeting the educational needs of students living at or below the poverty line. Of the approximately 10,000 schools in California, more than 6,000 of them participate in the Title I program.

To receive this distinction, the school must demonstrate that all students are making significant progress toward proficiency on California’s academic content standards. Additionally, the school’s socioeconomically disadvantaged students must have doubled the achievement targets set for them for two consecutive years.

The National Title I Association also presents each year two National Title I Distinguished School Awards per state. The awards are given to one Academic Achievement Award-winning school that has demonstrated exceptional student performance for two or more consecutive years and to one that made the most progress in closing the achievement gap between student groups.

  Mary Okeefe