A Blue Ribbon Celebration At West Elementary School
Students watch a performance from Omaha Street Percussion during Friday’s Blue Ribbon School celebration at Glenwood’s West Elementary School.
Brandi Roberts serves up the blueberries at Friday’s pancake breakfast for students at Glenwood’s West Elementary.
West students enjoy the "Super Pancakes" Breakfast.
Glenwood Community School District Director Of Food Services Terry Marlow and Superintendent Dr. Devin Embray man the pancake grill at Friday’s West Elementary “Super Pancakes” breakfast.
Students were greeted by this sign proclaiming Friday as a “Blue Ribbon Day” at West Elementary School.
The all-school assembly was highlighted by a performance from Omaha Street Percussion.
A blueberry pancake breakfast, classroom Christmas parties and an all-school assembly highlighted a day of celebration Friday at Glenwood’s West Elementary School.
Students and staff spent their last day before winter recess celebrating the school’s national recognition as a Blue Ribbon School. Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) announced that West Elementary was one of only five schools in Iowa and 297 nationally to earn the prestigious Blue Ribbon School designation.
According to the DOE, Blue Ribbon schools are recognized in one of the following two performance categories (based on all student scores, subgroup student scores and graduation rates):
Exemplary High-Performing Schools are among their state’s highest performing schools as measured by state assessments or nationally normed tests.
Exemplary Achievement Gap-Closing Schools are among their state’s highest performing schools in closing achievement gaps between a school’s student groups and all students.
West Elementary was recognized as an Exemplary High-Performing School.
During an interview earlier this year, West Elementary School Principal Genie O’Grady said the recognition can be attributed to the dedication and hard work of West staff, students and parents over the past several years.
“Two things were key,” O’Grady said. “Teacher Leadership – putting teachers in charge of what teachers do best and figuring out things that were keeping kids from learning. We also studied what’s called MTSS – Multi Tiered System of Support, which really helped us fine tune how we were intervening for all students.
“It has to do with our response to a student that either has needs that are either higher than a grade level or lower than a grade level. So, it’s our response to students not making adequate progress or students that already know what we’re teaching them.”
Friday’s all-school assembly in the West gymnasium featured a video presentation of O’Grady, West Instructional Coach Laurie Weekly and Glenwood Community School District Superintendent Dr. Devin Embray accepting the Blue Ribbon School Award at a November ceremony in Washington, D.C. The assembly concluded with a live performance by Omaha Street Percussion.