FRANKLIN PIERCE SCHOOL DISTRICT — The Washington State Board of Education (SBE) has announced 42 recipient schools of the first ever English Language Acquisition Awards, representing 26 school districts across the state. Three of the 42 schools honored with the award are from Franklin Pierce Schools. Central Avenue Elementary, Christensen Elementary, and Elmhurst Elementary are all recipients of this year’s award.

The SBE board created the language acquisition award at the March 2014 board meeting to recognize schools whose English Language Learner (ELL) students are making the greatest progress toward the goal of becoming proficient in English, which is a stepping stone to career and college readiness.

“Language acquisition is an indicator of school success and deserves to be acknowledged,” explained SBE Board Chair Dr. Kristina Mayer. “We want to shine the light on what is working so it can be replicated across the state. The board will work with OSPI and other partners to support award-winning schools in sharing their strategies and best practices.”

The 42 schools honored with this year’s award not only deliver high quality instruction to all of their students, they also provide instructional services to support their ELL students, preparing them to transition out of language programs and achieve academic success.

“We are proud of Central Avenue, Christensen, and Elmhurst for their hard work that has resulted in their recognition by this newly created award,” said Franklin Pierce Superintendent Dr. Frank Hewins. “There are over 50 different languages spoken in the households of the students we serve; while it doesn’t make our job any easier, it does make our job more important. We believe that every student is capable of learning more each day, and we are committed to preparing all students for success beyond high school. Although we have much more work to do, this award is one of many we’ve received that supports the quality instruction and engaged learning taking place in our schools.”