RMS receives national Blue Ribbon School Award Posted 6/2/00 by Patrick Byrne Staff Writer It took a year of preparation, a lot of sweat, and hard work, but it all paid off May 22 when Rosemount Middle School (RMS) was notified by the U.S. Department of Education that it was the only school in Minnesota this year to be selected for the prestigious Blue Ribbon School Award. ìWeíre very excited,î said RMS Principal Larry Larson. ìWeíve always been the have nots (in the district) and now we feel we do great things over here.î Only 198 schools in the country were recognized with the award, which reward schools for outstanding achievement in education. The criteria for the award require schools have improved test scores, a quality learning environment, and community involvement. The process for achieving the award is year long, said Larson. He added that the school had a team of eight people including staff, parents and community members who worked on the application process. Larson said the teamís first job was to fill out an application form, which included 40 pages of evaluative and in-depth questions. The application was submitted to the state, which then selected six schools, including Rosemount, to be evaluated on the national level. The nominations where then sent on to Washington, D.C. where a panel of judges rated the applications. ìIn order for the nomination to move to the next step, it must receive an exemplary rating. The judges rated our school exemplary. Then they sent out a site team to make sure everything you said is actually true,î said Larson. The U.S. Department of Education sent a site investigator to Rosemount during the last week of March. He spent three days in the city interviewing community members, school staff and students. The first day was spent evaluating and touring the community, where he looked at how the school worked cooperatively with community businesses and other agencies. The next two days were spent meeting with a variety of representative groups of students, teachers, support staff, parents and district administrators, many of whom didnít even know he was there to observe them. ìWe didnít tell students he was even here during the inspection,î said Larson. He said the investigator observed about 80 percent of the teachers at RMS in their classrooms. The final 36-page report was sent to a team of evaluators who all had to rate the school exemplary in order for it to be named a Blue Ribbon School. RMS received notification that it had been selected for the award May 22. After the school was notified, the news got out fast. Larson said his office was flooded with calls from parents, retired citizens, and city and state officials saying how proud they were of the schoolís achievement. The award included a list of areas where the school achieved high marks. Some of those areas included: sensitivity of school staff to the developmental needs of middle school students; the ìhouseî system which divides the student body into smaller entities with supervising teachers; the schoolís challenging curriculum; its strong teaching practices; and the schoolís pioneering efforts to offer peer-to-peer professional development and the peer-review process, which have been adopted across the district. One of the key factors for receiving the award, said Larson, was ìshowing growth and student achievement.î In the spring, Rosemount Middle School led the list of improved percentages with a 12 percent improvement when the Statewide Basic Standards Test results in reading were released. Larson said those results were actually released after the site team had already made its final evaluation, but the school has experience years of steadily improving test scores. Larson said it was a partnership effort that made RMS a Blue Ribbon School this year. He said a combination of total faculty commitment to achieving higher tests scores in recently years and students accepting the challenge, as well as parent and community involvement in the school, made the receiving the award possible. RMS looks forward to celebrating its Blue Ribbon School Award by sending a delegation, including an administrator, teacher, student, support staff member and parent, to Washington, D.C., Sept. 22-23, for a special recognition program. The total cost for the trip will be $6,000. The school is requesting help to fund the trip because it does not have the money in the school budget. The school is creating a letter asking for help to fund the trip. It will go out to area banks, businesses and organizations. Individuals, organizations and corporations that would like to help contribute to the fund are invited to contact the RMS at (651) 423-7570. ©Thisweek Newspapers