Late last week, U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona recognized 297 schools throughout the nation as being Blue Ribbon Schools for 2022, including Florence Drake Elementary School in Sparks. The only other Nevada school named is the Linda Rankin Givens Elementary School in Las Vegas.
The Blue Ribbon Schools Program was incepted in 1982 as a way to acknowledge public and private elementary, middle, and high schools that excel in academics and progress in closing achievement gaps amongst student subgroups. In the last forty years, the Blue Ribbon Schools Program has granted more than 10,000 awards to more than 9,000 schools.
Florence Drake Elementary School is one of 111 schools within the Washoe County School District that provides education for students in pre-K through fifth grade. At the time of its nomination, its student demographics consisted of 57 percent Hispanic; 32 percent White; 2 percent Asian; 1 percent Black/African American, Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, and Native American; and 6 percent of students of two or more races out of its 234-student population. It is considered a high performing Title One school, attributing its high performance to its collective efficacy and belief in students.
Its mission is to maintain high standards in partnership with its families and community to ensure social emotional and academic growth for all its students in a nurturing environment and they start every day with words of wisdom and a reminder to strive for one’s best.
Florence Drake Elementary had a 100 percent daily student attendance rate in the 2018-2019 season and kept a 96 percent attendance rate for the 2020-21 and 2019-20 seasons.
Florence Drake Elementary School is 1.5 miles away from downtown Sparks, and prides itself on having the highest reading and math proficiency rate of any Title I school in the WCSD since 2017-18. It has even surpassed 69 percent of non-Title I schools within the district in math ability and 60 percent of non-Title I schools in English Language Arts proficiency.
In recent years, the school implemented a “walk to learn” program where students pre-K through fifth grade attend a 40-minute instructional block four times a week in where they are grouped according to ability and instructional need. Since its implementation, its students’ performance (based on the state’s assessment) has steadily increased from 2018 to the current school year. For instance, proficiency in ELA jumped from 48 percent to 70 percent, math proficiency increased from 37 percent to 59 percent, and science competence rose from 11 percent to 28 percent.
“I applaud all the honorees for the 2022 National Blue Ribbon Schools Award for creating vibrant, welcoming, and affirming school communities where students can learn, grow, reach their potential, and achieve their dreams,” said Secretary Cardona. “As our country continues to recover from the pandemic, we know that our future will only be as strong as the education we provide to all of our children. Blue Ribbon Schools have gone above and beyond to keep students healthy and safe while meeting their academic, social, emotional, and mental health needs. These schools show what is possible to make an enduring, positive difference in students’ lives.”
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