Atwater School Brings Home National Renaissance(R) Conference Award for 'Outstanding Student Achievement'
March 24 2004 - 4:00PM
PR Newswire (US)
Atwater School Brings Home National Renaissance(R) Conference Award
for 'Outstanding Student Achievement' MADISON, Wis., March 24
/PRNewswire/ -- Recognized for their "outstanding student
achievement," Peggy Heller Elementary School, located in Atwater,
Calif., was awarded the Reading Renaissance Award at the fifth
annual National Renaissance Conference. (Logo:
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20001108/RENAISSANCELOGO ) The
National Renaissance Conference, which was held March 16-19 in
Orlando, Fla., is hosted once a year by Renaissance Learning(R),
Inc., a leading provider of learning information systems and school
improvement programs for pre-K-12 schools. "Peggy Heller Elementary
School is proud of the student achievement gains we havemade over
the last four years," says Peggy Heller principal Shar Herrera. "In
2000, we were identified as an underachieving school and we
volunteered for the II/USP program, but after assessing the needs
of the school, Renaissance products were used to help deliver an
educational program designed to meet every student's needs." The
school has proudly announced that their API has increased 140
points over the last four years and the school has been nominated
for California's Distinguished School Award. Due to the use of
Renaissance Learning's Accelerated Reading(R) and Read Now(R),
Peggy Heller's reading and language scores have increased
substantially. "Students have acquired a love for reading and are
often found walking down the hallways and sitting on the playground
reading," says Herrera. "When library circulation goes from 31,000
to over 72,000, you know students are reading." This year's
National Renaissance Conference was attended by about 3,000
educators from across the country who gathered to network with
others dedicated to educating our nation's children, receive
professional development training, hear motivational speakers, and
view Renaissance Learning's newest products and services. Taking
center stage this year were demonstrations of Renaissance Place(R),
the Company's enterprise wide suite of products which offers
centralized data and web-based consolidated school- and
district-wide reporting, and English in a Flash(TM), a
revolutionary new research-based product to help teachers address
the needs of ELL (English language learners) and ESL (English as a
second language) students. The 2004 National Renaissance Conference
was also highlighted by keynote presentations by Wally Amos,
founder of Famous Amos cookies and nationally recognized literacy
advocate, Mary Pope Osborne, author of the Magic Tree House
children's series, and Jim Trelease, motivational speaker and
author of The Read-Aloud Handbook. Attendees were treated to the
opportunity to meet many famous authors and attend several of the
more than 100 professional development workshops offered on a
variety of subjects -- from the latest teaching techniques and
research to funding opportunities, technology briefings, and
detailed discussions of Renaissance products. The 2005 National
Renaissance Conference will be held March 3-6 in San Antonio,
Texas. Renaissance Learning(R), Inc., is a leading provider of
research-based learning information systems software, school
improvement programs, teacher trainingand consulting. Adopted by
over 65,000 schools, Renaissance information technology products
give students and teachers continuous constructive feedback that
helps motivate students, dramatically accelerate learning, improve
test scores, and help students master all standards, while reducing
teacher paperwork. Over 500,000 educators have received Renaissance
training. Renaissance Learning has six U.S. locations and
subsidiaries in Australia, Canada, India, and the United Kingdom.
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20001108/RENAISSANCELOGO
http://photoarchive.ap.org/ DATASOURCE: Renaissance Learning, Inc.
CONTACT: Jonas Berberich of Renaissance Learning, Inc., Toll free
office, +1-800-200-4848, Fax, +1-608-664-3888, Web site:
http://www.renlearn.com/
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