Rhoades Elementary School in Indianapolis — one of Ball State's professional development schools — has earned a national 2005 No Child Left Behind Blue Ribbon Schools award.

Rhoades shared the distinction with 11 schools in Indiana and 295 in the United States. On Sept. 26, Christine Cohn from the U.S. Department of Education presented the certificate to the school, recognizing Rhoades as one of the nation's most successful schools due to its dramatic gains in student achievement.

Under No Child Left Behind, schools must make adequate yearly progress in reading and language arts and mathematics. Through the professional school relationship, Ball State has been deeply involved in the school's professional development, literacy and writing programs, and the integration of technology into the school's teaching and learning, said Ruth Swetnam, director of Ball State's professional development schools network.

"When we first started the relationship, Rhoades was listed as a failing school, according to No Child Left Behind," she said. "Achievement scores have doubled in the last five years, and we've helped secure a sizeable grant for technology to supplement the school's reading and math literacy program."

Rhoades' passing rate on ISTEP bottomed out just below 39 percent in 2001-02. Since that low score, passing rates have more than doubled to 81 percent in 2003-04.

School officials praised the partnership with Ball State, which was formed in 2001, and the establishment of weekly assessments that identified struggling students more quickly as keys to the school's dramatic turnaround.

As part of the partnership, nearly 25 Ball State student teachers have worked at Rhoades each year. And though no two partnerships are alike in Ball State's network of 23 schools, each works together with Ball State to develop initiatives suited to the school with the overall aim of professional growth through the simultaneous improvement of both schools and teacher education, Swetnam added.

The Blue Ribbon awards were based on one of three criteria: Schools with at least 40 percent of their students from disadvantaged backgrounds that dramatically improve student performance on state tests; schools whose students, regardless of background, achieve in the top 10 percent of their state on state tests; private schools that achieve in the top 10 percent in the nation.

(Note to editors: For more information, contact Swetnam at (765) 285-5252 or rswetnam@bsu.edu.)