Guiding Principle Helps Southeast Tucson's Cottonwood Elementary School Earn A+ Rating from Arizona Educational Foundation

TUCSON – July 27, 2010 – A guiding principle drives and influences every daily decision made at Cottonwood Elementary School. It says, “Everything we do here today impacts the life of a child.”

That simple yet profound principle has motivated the Vail Unified School District school’s students, teachers and staff to a very significant achievement. The campus is one of only 20 Arizona Schools this year to earn A+ certification from the Arizona Educational Foundation.

While Cottonwood received the A+ certification this past academic year, it has actually rolled up a number of significant achievements over the past five years.  This includes a 2005 Arizona School Boards Association Golden Bell Award Runner-Up for its REACH program, designed to ensure students’ mastery of essential math skills; a 2007 Southern Arizona Regional Science and Engineering Fair Elementary Teacher of the Year Award to Jim Kern for inspiring inventive and creative science fair projects; and a 2009 nomination to the National Teachers Hall of Fame for Liz Bradshaw.

The accolades don’t stop there.  This school has proven it is consistently excellent, earning four consecutive “Excelling” labels from the Arizona Department of Education.

As with many of the A+ schools, that excellence stretches outside classroom walls into the surrounding community – a community that has faced substantial socio-economic changes since Cottonwood first opened its doors in 2001. Principal Deborah Bryson and her staff wrote in the school’s A+ certification paperwork the school stands at “…the heart of this close-knit suburban population.”

“Regardless of the continually changing and rapidly growing community, Cottonwood remains a bright beacon in the Rita Ranch area,” the school wrote. “We provide a welcoming and nurturing environment in which all students are ready to learn…”

Cottonwood Elementary School will maintain its A+ certification for three years.

According to the AEF website, azedfoundation.org, the A+ program celebrates education and brings to light the positive stories and successes happening in public schools every day.  Created in 1983, the program’s stated purpose is threefold:

• To identify and publicly recognize outstanding public schools in Arizona;
• To make available a comprehensive framework of key criteria for school effectiveness that can serve as a basis for participatory self-assessment and planning in schools;
• To facilitate communication and sharing of best practices within and among schools based on common criteria related to success.

In order to be recognized as an A+ school, each school must submit an application providing demographic information, a description of current programs and practices, documentation of parent and community involvement, a profile of the school principal and his/her vision of the commitment to excellence, equity, service; and sustained high achievement or significant improvement in assessment. The winning schools are recognized for their superior ability to meet the needs of their student populations.

The AEF A+ School Recognition Program is sponsored by APS, The Arizona Republic, Desert Schools Federal Credit Union, Safeway and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona. To learn more, please visit, http://www.azedfoundation.org/school-recogition-program.php.