Iditarod Elementary named Blue Ribbon school

WASILLA -- Iditarod Elementary School is at the top of the class.

This week the school was named a No Child Left Behind Blue Ribbon School, a distinction it received for showing dramatic gains in student achievement over the last four years.

Iditarod passed the NCLB standards for student achievement the last two years and was in the top 10 percent, statewide, for student achievement scores in grades 3 -5.

After being nominated for the award earlier this spring, school officials didn't find out about the award until early Friday.

"We had one teacher get up at 5:30 a.m. and check the Internet to see if we won," Nicholson said.

Later in the day, Nicholson received an official phone call from Washington, D.C., notifying her of the distinction. At 10 a.m., Sept. 24, a Washington official will fly in to make an official announcement during a school assembly.

School Principal Nancy Nicholson credits Iditarod's success to standardizing its curriculum and working together as a team.

"We have really tried hard to be consistent throughout the whole school," Nicholson said. "We have standardized our math and writing programs throughout the school. We have great teachers but before there were a lot of different programs, so now we standardized them."

The entire school now uses the Everyday Math Program. Unlike traditional math programs in which students march through, chapter by chapter, until they reach the end of the book, the new program spends less time on each topic but returns to topics again and again.

"It's a spiraling program, rather than linear," Nicholson said. "Kids remember things from earlier in the year, start making connections and the light comes on."

To address writing, the school hired a writing consultant who works with both teachers and parents, showing them teaching techniques and how to best help the students. The writing program is called the Six Trait Writing Program.

The program deals with six facets of writing: content, organization, word choice, voice, sentence fluency and conventions.

"They learn how to be more expressive and jazz up their writing," Nicholson said. "They learn the nuances of words and along they way they pick up new words."

Apart from her strong teaching staff and new programs, Nicholson also believes the school discipline program has helped create an environment conducive for learning.

"Each teacher has their own practice but we have a schoolwide discipline program," Nicholson said. "All students understand the program and we do come down hard and fast when parents or teachers report instances of bullying or harassment. We want students to be comfortable here."

Nicholson said none of this would have been possible without her staff.

"The other day, a student came by and said, 'Ms. Nicholson, I don't like having a substitute because they can't do Everyday Math and we have to do that old stuff," she said.

For now, the school is just enjoying its award.

"We are thrilled," Nicholson said. "The staff has worked really hard."

Contact Joel Davidson at joel.davidson@frontiersman.com.