Three elementary schools in the Kent School District are being honored by the Washington School Recognition Program for their work in closing opportunity gaps and supporting students growth and academic achievement during the 2023-2024 school year.
George T. Daniel Elementary, Meridian Elementary and Panther Lake Elementary will receive honors for growth for students in one or more racial or ethnic groups, according to a May 6 Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) news release.
Each year, this program highlights schools that demonstrate exceptional progress in key areas of student success, according to OSPI. This year, 406 or 16% of schools in Washington received this distinction in 154 school districts. All state public and charter schools can be recognized. As part of being honored, each school will receive a banner to display in their buildings.
“Achieving this honor is no small feat,” said Bill Kallappa, chair of the State Board of Education. “It takes a team of dedicated educators and administrators working together to ensure that their students have the knowledge they need to be successful. And it takes great students coming to school every day ready to learn.”
The program is jointly operated by the Office State Board of Education and Educational Opportunity Gap Oversight and Accountability Committee.
There are three routes for schools to be honored by the Washington School Recognition Program. A school can earn recognition for multiple categories each year. Recognition is based on school performance data from the Washington School Improvement Framework.
George T. Daniel Elementary is at 11310 SE 248th St.; Meridian Elementary is at 25621 140th Ave. SE; and Panther Lake Elementary is at 10200 SE 216th St. The Kent schools were recognized in the Growth category, which included 224 schools across the state.
Schools can be recognized in three categories: Closing Gaps, Growth, and Achievement.
• Closing Gaps: Schools in this category have made significant progress in areas identified for improvement in previous school years. These areas may include English language arts and math assessment scores, English Learner progress, or graduation rates.
• Growth: Schools recognized for growth have at least one student group that has shown some of the state’s largest annual gains across multiple measures, such as attendance, assessment scores, English Learner progress, graduation rates, or the percentage of ninth graders who successfully earned all their attempted credits.
• Achievement: These schools have the state’s highest performance in at least two key areas, including attendance, dual credit completion, assessment scores in English language arts or math, graduation rates, or ninth-grade credit attainment, and are above average across all reportable student groups on the 2025 Washington School Improvement Framework.
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