New York City DoE Takes 2007 Broad Prize

• By David Nagel
• 09/18/07

##AUTHORSPLIT##<--->

The Broad Foundation has awarded $500,000 to the winner of this year's Broad Prize for Urban Education, the New York City Department of Education. The foundation also awarded four finalists $125,000 each, including the Long Beach Unified School District (California), which was the winner of the 2003 Broad Prize.

The Broad Prize is awarded annually to urban school districts that "demonstrate the greatest overall performance and improvement in student achievement while reducing achievement gaps among poor and minority students. The money goes directly to graduating high school seniors for college scholarships." The foundation cited some of the determining factors in awarding this year's prize to NYC: overall performance and improvement in math and reading; strong performance and improvement in reading and math among the district's low-income population and specific ethnic groups; and narrowing of achievement gaps in reading and math among black and Hispanic students.

Four other districts were each awarded $125,000 as finalists for 2007:

• Bridgeport Public Schools in Connecticut;
• Long Beach Unified School District;
• Miami-Dade County Public Schools in Florida;
• Northside Independent School District in Texas.

This year's award was presented by United States Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings, who said, "Nothing is more important to the future of this country than giving young people the tools to succeed. With the help of strong, innovative leadership, Broad Prize school districts are proving that if we raise our expectations, our children will rise to the challenge."

The Broad Prize was launched in 2002 and is awarded annually. More information, including details of the prize selection process, can be found at the link below.

Read More:

• The Broad Foundation

READ MORE DAILY NEWS

---

About the author: David Nagel is the executive editor for 1105 Media's online education technology publications, including THE Journal and Campus Technology. He can be reached at [email protected].

Proposals for articles and tips for news stories, as well as questions and comments about this publication, should be submitted to David Nagel, executive editor, at [email protected].