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TEA News Releases Online
Jan. 25, 2013
Blue Ribbon Schools and Terrel Bell Award recipient
to be honored Monday
AUSTIN – Sixteen Texas public schools will be honored as Blue Ribbon Schools and an Austin principal will be recognized as the recipient of the Terrel Bell Award at 9 a.m. Monday, Jan. 28, during the TASA Midwinter Conference.
The ceremony will occur in Ballroom D of the Austin Convention Center.
The Blue Ribbon program recognizes schools based on one of two criteria: (1) dramatically improving student performance to high levels on state tests; or (2) students scoring in the top 10 percent on state tests. Since the program’s creation by the U.S. Department of Education in 1982, more than 500 Texas schools have received this honor.
This year’s recipients are:
Blue Ridge High School
Blue Ridge Independent School District (ISD)
Bray Elementary School
Cedar Hill ISD
Chandler Elementary School
Brownsboro ISD
Diane Winborn Elementary School
Katy ISD
Douglass Elementary School
El Paso ISD
East Early College High School
Houston ISD
Fox Technical High School
San Antonio ISD
George West Primary School
George West ISD
Gruver Elementary School
Gruver ISD
J. Walter Graham Elementary School
Austin ISD
Judge Barefoot Sanders Law Magnet School
Dallas ISD
Mission Early College High School
Socorro ISD
Montgomery Elementary School
Montgomery ISD
Project Chrysalis Middle School
Houston ISD
Sundown Elementary School
Sundown ISD
William Velasquez Elementary School
Lamar CISD
Austin’s Graham Elementary will also take home a second honor when its principal Blaine Helwig receives the Terrel H. Bell Award for Outstanding Leadership. Helwig is one of only seven principals in the country to receive the award this year.
In announcing the award, the U.S. Department of Education commended Helwig for devising strategies to help students master fundamental math and reading skills and designing a progress monitoring system for teachers that pinpoints what students know and what they need to learn next. The award is named for Terrel Bell, who served as the U.S. secretary of education from 1981 to 1985.
The Blue Ribbon Schools Program is sponsored by the Texas Education Agency and the Texas Association of School Administrators (TASA). Monday’s awards ceremony is sponsored by TASA, the SHW Group and the Texas Association of School Boards.
Note: Reporters are welcome to attend this event. However, you must stop at the conference registration desk and receive a badge.