For
the third consecutive year, Glacier View Junior High School has been
named a School of Distinction for being among the top 5 percent of
schools statewide that has demonstrated sustained improvement in reading
and math.
Glacier
View Junior High staff will be recognized at the October 21 Puyallup
School Board meeting. The meeting begins at 6 p.m. at Ballou Junior High
School, 9916 136th St. E. in Puyallup. 
“The
award is indicative of exemplary work on behalf of both students and
staff at Glacier View Junior High,” said Superintendent Tim Yeomans. “We
are equally pleased with continued improvement in all of our schools,
including many that have won this award in previous years.”
Of
the 99 elementary, junior high, and high schools recognized statewide
this year, Glacier View Junior High is one of 16 junior high or middle
schools that have earned the honor in more than one year.
The
award is based on students scoring at or above the state average in
reading and math in grades three through eight on the 2013 Measurement
of Student Progress, in reading in grade 10 on the High School
Proficiency Exam, and in math end-of-course exams in grades nine and 10.
Schools that met that requirement were then evaluated for academic gains in both subjects over the past five years.
“The
award is a tribute to the collaboration and professionalism of the
teachers and staff at Glacier View,” said Mark Vetter, who served as
Glacier View Junior High principal from the time it opened in 2008 until
this past summer when he became a director of instructional leadership
in Puyallup. “That collaboration has led to students who care, are
motivated, and are learners.”
Vetter
will join new Glacier View Junior High Principal Michelle Cruckshank at
a statewide School of Distinction recognition ceremony this fall in
Renton.
Cruckshank said she is thrilled to be part of an award-winning school.
“I’m
honored to have inherited it,” she said. “The staff is delighted,
excited, and understands the gravity of the responsibility of such an
honor, as well as the continued work ahead.”
The
award is sponsored by The Center for Educational Effectiveness, the
Association of Educational Service Districts, the Association of
Washington School Principals, the Washington Association of School
Administrators, and the Washington State School Directors Association.