News Release - Colorado Springs elementary school receives distinguished school award

Jan. 19, 2023

Colorado Springs elementary school receives distinguished school award

COLORADO SPRINGS -- Colorado Education Commissioner Katy Anthes today presented Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School in Widefield School District 3 with a 2022 National Elementary and Secondary Education Act Distinguished School Award at a special ceremony.

"The administrators, teachers, support staff and parents have done a tremendous job working together to make sure all of the students at King Elementary are succeeding," Anthes said to the student body at the midday event. 

The award is given to high-achieving Title I schools -- those in which 35% or more students are considered low-income. King Elementary, a project-based learning school, was chosen out of the state’s 750 Title I schools for producing exceptional student performance and academic growth for two consecutive years.

King Elementary is one of the state's top-performing schools and has earned the highest rating in Colorado's accountability system since 2016. King Elementary met or exceeded expectations on state tests in English language arts and math in 2019. In 2022, the school as a whole, performed better than 65% of all other elementary schools in Colorado on math, and better than 70% of all other elementary schools in Colorado on English language arts. 

The ESEA Distinguished Schools Program is sponsored by the National Association of ESEA State Program Administrators. 

Each state in the association annually selects up to two schools to receive the award based on student progress and other indicators of school performance. The school received an award of $10,000 to support Title I programs, which are designed to assist schools with high percentages of children from low-income families.

Visit the National ESEA Distinguished Schools webpage for more information about the program.