Northshore receives State Superintendent’s Award for Educational Excellence

The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction's (OSPI) inaugural State Superintendent's Award for Educational Excellence recognizes 46 school districts across Washington, including the Northshore School District, for their commitment to student success. Northshore received an award as one of the 25 top-performing school districts in educational achievement in the previous school year. 

“As the new superintendent for Northshore,” said Superintendent Justin Irish, “I know I stand on the shoulders of the leaders who came before me and the extraordinary educators and staff who serve our students every day, past and present. This recognition belongs to our principals, our district leaders, our teachers, our support staff, district teams, students, families, and school board, whose commitment to excellence makes Northshore such a remarkable community.”

Measures considered in the award evaluation include student outcome measures like 4th grade reading, 8th grade reading and math, 9th graders on track to graduate, and the four-year graduation rate. It also considers student opportunity measures like regular attendance, kindergarten readiness, Highly Capable Program participation, high school level math in 8th grade, and dual credit participation in Career and Technical Education. 

This award was created after the U.S. Department of Education (ED) ended the Blue Ribbon Schools Award, a longstanding federal program that recognized excellence in student achievement and closing opportunity gaps. ED encouraged state superintendents to implement their own state-level awards in place of the Blue Ribbon School Awards, and as a result, State Superintendent Reykdal introduced the Award for Educational Excellence.