East And West High Schools Recognized For Excellence In Salt Lake City School District

Press release from the Salt Lake City School District:

December 18, 2020

Salt Lake City School District received the following letter from State Superintendent Sydnee Dickson honoring East High School and West High School.

Mr. Larry Madden, Interim Superintendent

Ms. Melissa Ford, Board President

Salt Lake School District

440 East 100 South

Salt Lake City, Utah 84111

Dear Superintendent Madden and Board President Ford:

Congratulations! We are happy to inform you that West High School is being recognized as a Utah High School of Excellence for “Closing the Opportunity Gap” for Utah’s multilingual learners. Salt Lake is also being honored for East High School as a Utah Exemplary High School.

Salt Lake School District was among seven school districts recognized for its efforts to provide equitable access and success to coursework that prepares multilingual learners for future success. We are recognizing eight High Schools of Excellence and three Exemplary High Schools.

The commitment by the Utah State Board of Education (USBE) is to honor those educators who have supported equitable access to the same educational opportunities offered to English speaking peers. Your work with high school principals and teachers provides an important learning opportunity for all of us to better support an effective transition to post-secondary education for success in both career and college. We appreciate your contributions to the future wellbeing of Utah’s families and communities.

The criteria for a recognized Utah High Schools of Excellence are:

• Enrollment over 800
• 25-50% Economically Disadvantaged students
• 10-15% Multilingual Learners (students currently learning English)
• 25-45% Students have achieved her/his individual annual growth goal
• 10% or more have achieved English proficiency
• 33-45% Achieving Advanced Coursework for Post-Secondary Success (Closing the Opportunity Gap)

The criteria for a recognized Utah Exemplary High Schools are:

• Enrollment over 1500
• 50+% Economically Disadvantaged students
• 15+% Students Learning English
• 35-50% Students have achieved her/his individual annual growth goal
• 50-80% Achieving Advanced Coursework for Post-Secondary Success (Closing the Opportunity Gap)

East and West High Schools will be highlighted on the USBE website in State Superintendent Dickson’s messages as well as receive a framed Certificate of Achievement. Your district will also be recognized in the January 2021 Board meeting Spotlight. Thank you again for your commitment to our Utah multilingual students.

Sincerely,

Sydnee Dickson, Ed.D.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction

Utah State Board of Education

This press release was produced by the Salt Lake City School District. The views expressed are the author's own.