Business Council's Prestigious Award Honors Schools for Educational Improvement

ALBANY—Elementary schools in Manhattan and in Westchester, Niagara, Nassau, Washington, St. Lawrence, Cortland, and Ulster counties will receive The Business Council's 2003 Pathfinder Award in separate ceremonies in February. The award honors schools that show the most improvement from one year to the next as measured by their students' scores on standardized tests.

The schools scheduled to receive the awards are:

P.S/I.S. 126, The Jacob Riis Community School of New York City Community School District 2 in Manhattan will receive its award at a ceremony Tuesday, February 11, at 10:30 a.m. The event will take place at the school. For further information, contact school principal Daria Rigney at 1-212/962-2188. This school was selected from all public elementary schools in the state's judicial district 1, which includes all of Manhattan.

The Alton B. Parker School of the Cortland City School District in Cortland County will receive its award at a ceremony Tuesday, February 11, 2003 at 7 p.m. The event will take place at the school. For further information, contact school principal Kevin Yard at 1-601/758-4160. This school was selected from all public elementary schools in the state's judicial district 6, which includes Broome, Chemung, Chenango, Cortland, Delaware, Madison, Otsego, Schuyler, Tioga, and Tompkins counties.

Franklin School of the Hempstead Union Free School District in Nassau County will receive its award at a ceremony Friday, February 14, at 1:30 p.m. The event will take place at the school. For further information, contact school principal John Moore at 1-516/292-7069. This school was selected from all public elementary schools in the state's judicial district 10, which includes Nassau and Suffolk counties.

Zena Elementary School of the Kingston School District in Ulster County will receive its award at a ceremony Tuesday, February 18 at 1:45 p.m. The event will take place at the school. For further information, contact school principal Gale P. Aidala at 1-845/679-8160. This school was selected from all public elementary schools in the state's judicial district 3, which includes Albany, Columbia, Greene, Rensselaer, Schoharie, Sullivan and Ulster counties.

John F. Kennedy Magnet School of the Port Chester Rye Union Free School District in Westchester County will receive its award at separate ceremonies Wednesday, February 26 at 2 p.m. and again at 7:30 p.m. Both events will take place at the school. For further information, contact school principal Louis Cuglietto at 1-914/934-7990. This school was selected from all public elementary schools in the state's judicial district 9, which includes Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland and Westchester counties.

Washington Hunt School of the Lockport City School District in Niagara County will receive its award at a ceremony Thursday, February 27 at 1:45 p.m. The event will take place at the school. For further information, contact school principal Terry Ann Carbone at 1-716/478-4651. This school was selected from all public elementary schools in the state's judicial district 8, which includes Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautaugua, Erie, Genesee, Niagara, Orleans and Wyoming counties.

Salem Elementary School of the Salem Central School District in Washington County will receive its award at a ceremony Friday, February 28 at 1 p.m. The event will take place at the school. For further information, contact school principal Debra Ryan at 1-518/845-9505. This school was selected from all public elementary schools in the state's judicial district 4, which includes Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Fulton, Hamiltion, Montgomery, St. Lawrence, Saratoga, Schenectady, Warren and Washington counties.

Edwards-Knox Elementary School of the Edwards-Knox Central School District in St. Lawrence County will receive its award at a ceremony Tuesday, February 28, at 1:30 p.m. The event will take place at the school. For further information, contact school principle Michael Trudo at 1-315/562-3284. This school was selected from all public elementary schools in the state's judicial district 4, which includes Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Fulton, Hamilton, Montgomery, St. Lawrence, Saratoga, Schenectady, Warren and Washington counties.

The Council awards the Pathfinder Award to two or more schools in each of 12 regions of the state whose students show the most improvement on the state's English Language Arts and math standardized tests.

Here is a complete list of the 2003 Pathfinder Award winners:

Background on the Pathfinder Awards: The Pathfinder Award program is in its third year. The Business Council created the Pathfinder Awards to recognize elementary schools that show the most improvement from one year to the next as measured by the state's new academic standards. Last year, 25 schools around the state received the award in the second year.

How award recipients are determined: To be chosen, a school must meet two criteria. First, it must have shown more improvement over its record the previous year than other schools in its region. In addition, at least half of its students must meet or exceed state standards on the fourth-grade English Language Arts (ELA) and math tests.

The Business Council gives Pathfinder Awards to two public schools in each of 12 different regions across the state. These regions are the state's judicial districts; awards are being made by those districts because appointments to the state Board of Regents are based on those regions. In some regions, if more than two schools show nearly identical levels of improvement, more than two may be recognized. Schools that win the award receive $1,000 for the school's programs, an Apple computer, and a trophy in recognition of the achievement.

The employers that contributed in 2002 to support the Pathfinder Awards are: Anheuser-Busch, Inc.; Apple Computers; CH Energy Group; Consolidated Edison, Inc.; Fleet Bank; HSBC; KeySpan; Metropolitan Life; Pfizer; Pioneer Development Company; Racemark International, LP; and Security Mutual Life Insurance Company.

Background on The Business Council's advocacy for education: The Business Council has long been an active and forceful advocate of policies to strengthen the performance and accountability of the state's public schools, and has long encouraged businesses and business leaders to become active partners with schools in their efforts to improve.

For example, The Public Policy Institute used state data to design the prototype for the state's school report cards. Today school report cards are released annually to give schools, teachers, parents, and students a sense of how their schools are doing compared to schools in similar circumstances and their own performance of the previous year. The Council has also supported the state's new academic standards and standardized tests based on them that measure the performance of students, teachers, and schools.

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