New Orleans, La. (October 10, 2011) - The National School Boards Association (NSBA) announces that Texas’ Mesquite Independent School District is the 2011 winner of the Council of Urban Boards of Education (CUBE) Annual Award for Urban School Board Excellence.
“Mesquite Independent School District is truly a model for success,” said Anne L. Bryant, NSBA’s Executive Director. “The district, through the board’s leadership, has made major gains in student achievement and significantly closed achievement gaps while effectively increasing community support around the schools.”
The award was presented Saturday afternoon, October 8, 2011 at the CUBE Annual Conference being held in New Orleans. The award is Mesquite’s second major honor this year; the district received the 2011 Texas Award for Performance Excellence from the Quality Texas Foundation.
Mesquite is a 37,000-student school system located less than 20 miles east of Dallas. With school board leadership, the district has utilized data-driven decision making and well-defined, measurable targets to continuously improve achievement.
Among the district’s accomplishments:
- 84 percent of students tested proficient in math in 2010, up from 67 percent in 2004.
- The percentage proficient in science grew from 52 percent in 2004 to 82 percent in 2010.
- Reading test scores rose from 82 percent to 91 percent proficient during the same time period, while social studies scores went from 86 percent to 95 percent passing.
- While all subgroups showed improvement, minority students enjoyed particular gains, and the test score gaps between white and minority students closed significantly in all subject areas.
The CUBE Annual Award for Urban School Board Excellence was started in 2004. This is the third time a Texas school district was received the award.
Previous winners are:
2010 - Baltimore City Schools
2009 - Atlanta Public Schools
2008 - Brownsville (Texas) Independent School District
2007 - Houston Independent School District and Miami-Dade County Public Schools
2006 - Norfolk (Va.) Public Schools
2005 - School District of Hillsborough County (Fla.)
2004 - Boston Public Schools
“We are proud that for a third time since 2004, a Texas school district has received this prestigious honor,” said James B. Crow, executive director of the Texas Association of School Boards. “Mesquite, Brownsville, and Houston Independent School Districts are all great examples of urban education excellence for Texas and the nation.”
CUBE was established in 1967 by NSBA as a national membership organization governed solely by urban school board members and dedicated to the needs and interests of urban school boards. CUBE member districts total more than 110 urban school districts in 35 states and the Virgin Islands. Our member districts educate nearly 8 million students, in over 12,000 schools, with a collective budget of approximately 99 billion dollars. CUBE helps urban school boards find solutions to challenges at the local level and seeks to improve their policy making effectiveness.
For more information on the award and CUBE, please visit www.nsba.org/cube.
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Founded in 1940, the National School Boards Association (NSBA) is a not-for-profit organization representing state associations of school boards and their more than 90,000 local school board members throughout the U.S. Working with and through our state associations, NSBA advocates for equity and excellence in public education through school board leadership. www.nsba.org