Washington Elementary Wins 2013-14 Title I Academic Achievement Award

Washington Elementary School was recently honored with the 2013-14 Title I Academic Achievement Award, which is granted to schools that have shown significant efforts to increase achievement for low-performing students.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson announced last week that the Lynwood Unified school is one of 106 public educational institutions statewide to receive the award.

“It is a tremendous privilege for one of our schools to be recognized for making impressive strides in closing the achievement gap and propelling our students forward,” said LUSD Board of Education President Briseida Gonzalez. “It is a true testament to the hard work that the staff, teachers and administrators have put into producing exceptional student performance.”

The Title I Academic Achievement Award is given to schools receiving federal Title I funds. Title I, the single largest federal educational program for K-12 public education, assists schools in meeting the educational needs of students living at or below the poverty line. More than 6,000 of the state’s 10,000 schools participate in the program.

The accolade acknowledges that Washington Elementary has logged above-average performance progress on standardized testing for two or more years in a row and has made extensive progress in closing the achievement gaps among the school’s socioeconomically disadvantaged students.

Administrators credit much of the turnaround to Lynwood Unified's Achieving Greatness Initiative, a strategic plan to deliver a first-rate education to every student in the Lynwood community by providing learning support systems at every grade level, interventions and resources to make college and career attainable goals.

“Small wins in student learning manifested itself into personal motivation and self-efficacy of every teacher as they pursued perfecting the art of student learning,” Washington Elementary School Principal Sergei Orloff said. "It is an honor to be recognized for the hard work every member of the Washington family has put in to ensuring that all of our students are achieving excellence.”

Washington Teacher of the Year Latrice Jackson said grade-level collaboration and strong teamwork among teachers has led to increased student achievement outcomes.

“Sharing ideas allows us to showcase our strengths,” Jackson said. “Everyone has an opportunity to provide ideas throughout the year in all academic areas. Working as a team is imperative to getting the best results.”

Washington Elementary was also previously honored with the Distinguished School Award in 2000 for demonstrating significant gains in narrowing the achievement gap.

“This well-deserved recognition speaks volumes to what the Washington Elementary community has done to provide every one of our students with high quality educational experiences that will lead them to pursue career, college or both,” said LUSD Superintendent Paul Gothold. “I congratulate the school’s collaborative efforts in helping to build a strong culture of academic achievement.”