Seven area districts receive state honors

Seven area school districts recently earned the state's "Distinction in Performance Award" recognizing their academic progress and achievement for the 2004-2005 school year.

Of the 178 school districts that received this award, 144 were K-12 districts and 34 were K-8 districts.

Delta, Leopold, Oak Ridge, Oran and Zalma's K-12 school districts received the "Distinction in Performance" award.

To qualify for the award, these districts met 11 out of 12 standards set by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and all of the Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) measures.

Altenburg's and Kelso's K-8 school districts also received the award.

These schools had to meet five out of six DESE standards and all of the MAP-based measurements to qualify.

DESE standards include MAP test scores, ACT scores, attendance and dropout rates.

School officials said hard work, professional development, parent involvement, and community support contributed to their success.

Kelso's small student-to-teacher ratio, allowed them to win this honor for the last six years, said superintendent David Newell.

"It's a lot of good hard work," he said. "Our staff is willing to go that extra mile."

Zalma, winning the award for the second year, has taken a different approach.

"We try to get across to the students that reading is very important and that helped in getting good test scores," superintendent Darryl Sauer said.

State education officials will formally recognize the districts at a series of banquets this winter, a DESE press release said.