Whitefoord Elementary is one of only 13 schools in the country to receive the 2010 National Excellence in Urban Education Award from San Diego State University’s National Center for Urban School Transformation (NCUST). To be eligible for this recognition, schools must have a large percentage of students who qualify for the federal free and reduced meals program, and the schools cannot have a selective enrollment or admissions policy. Test results must be higher than state averages with little or no achievement gap between various groups or categories of students.
The winning schools are also required to have high attendance rates, low suspension and expulsion rates, high graduation rates, and exceed the federal government’s No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Adequate Year Progress (AYP) standards for at least the last two years. Each school receives a $1,000 award, a large banner and a commemorative photo album. The schools will be recognized at the fifth annual NCUST High Performing Urban Schools Symposium on May 5-7 in Long Beach, Calif.