St. Paul School Brings Home National Renaissance(R) Conference Award for 'Outstanding Student Achievement'
March 24 2004 - 4:00PM
PR Newswire (US)
St. Paul School Brings Home National Renaissance(R) Conference
Award for 'Outstanding Student Achievement' MADISON, Wis., March 24
/PRNewswire/ -- Recognized for their "outstanding student
achievement," Sheridan Elementary School, located in St. Paul,
Minn., was awarded the Finding the Funds 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. In February, Sheridan's
achievements were honored by a visit from United States Department
of Education, Secretary Rod Paige, Minnesota Senator Norm Coleman,
Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, acting Minnesota Commissioner of
Education, Cheryl Yecke, Superintendent of the St. Paul School
District, Patricia Harvey, local media, and ten other St. Paul
principals who have also achieved successes. Two years ago,
Sheridan applied for a Comprehensive School Reform (CSR) Program
discretionary grant from the Title I Minnesota State Funds. The
funds were used to implement a research-based reformplan, which
includes Renaissance Learning software and other products. In the
past two years of the grant, Sheridan has purchased several
Renaissance programs. Sheridan was one of three elementary schools
in the St. Paul School District last year to receive all five
Superintendent's Academic Award for Continuous School Improvement
banners. During the 2002-2003 school year, Sheridan Elementary
School gained more than 20 percentage points on the Minnesota
Comprehensive Assessment (MCA) test, which measures progress for
the No Child Left Behind, in grade 5 reading and math, and grade 3
reading. The school also gained 14 percentage points on the grade 3
math score. The school was one of four schools in the St. Paul
School District to achieve a 20 percentage point gain in three
categories. The gains put Sheridan above target in every
desegregated area: Ethnicity, ELL, Free and Reduced, and Special
Education. 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 meetmany 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 ofRenaissance 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 training and 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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