$1 Million Broad Prize For Urban Education Awarded to Garden Grove Unified School District, Four Finalist District
Sept. 20, 2004
LOS ANGELES – The Broad Foundation announced today that the Garden Grove Unified School District is the winner of the 2004 Broad Prize for Urban Education, a $1 million prize awarded to the most outstanding urban school districts in the nation.
The Broad Prize for Urban Education is an annual award that honors the country’s urban school districts that are making the greatest improvements in student achievement while reducing achievement gaps among ethnic groups and between high- and low-income students. The money goes directly to graduating seniors for college scholarships.
Garden Grove Unified School District will receive $500,000, and the four finalist districts – Aldine Independent School District (Houston), Boston Public Schools, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (Charlotte, N.C.), and Norfolk Public Schools (Norfolk, Va.) — will each receive $125,000.
“Garden Grove is an example of standards-based education at its best, and the district’s frequent testing, assessment and intervention has paid off. In the past three years, students have improved in reading and math at every school level,” said Eli Broad, founder of The Broad Foundation.
Additionally, this year 94 percent of Garden Grove’s schools met their Adequate Yearly Progress targets under No Child Left Behind. Garden Grove Unified School District has been a finalist each year since the Broad Prize began in 2002.
“All of the finalists have shown dramatic improvements in student achievement, as well as progress in closing the achievement gaps among minority and low-income children,” Broad said.
More than 100 urban school districts nationwide were eligible for The Broad Prize this year. The five finalist districts were selected based on a rigorous review of data compiled and analyzed by the National Center for Educational Accountability. A board of 18 prominent educational leaders then reviewed the data and selected the five finalist districts.
Teams of educational researchers and practitioners then conducted site visits at each of the finalist school districts. They gathered statistical and qualitative information and conducted classroom observations. The information was then presented to a selection jury, which is comprised of 13 prominent individuals from business and industry, education and public service, to choose the winning school district.
The Selection Jury for the 2004 Broad Prize is Jeb Bush, governor of Florida; Henry G. Cisneros, chairman and CEO of American CityVista; Philip M. Condit, former chairman and CEO of The Boeing Company; Marian Wright Edelman, president of the Children’s Defense Fund; John M. Engler, former governor of Michigan; James B. Hunt, Jr., former governor of North Carolina; Richard D. Parsons, chairman and CEO of Time Warner, Inc.; Hugh B. Price, former president and CEO of the National Urban League; Bill Richardson, governor of New Mexico; Richard W. Riley, former U.S. secretary of education; Judith Rodin, former president of the University of Pennsylvania; Andrew L. Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union; and John F. Welch, former chairman and CEO of General Electric.
In addition to the cash award, the winner and finalists of The Broad Prize will be showcased nationwide throughout the year so that other urban school systems can learn from the top districts’ instruction and management practices.
The Broad Foundation is a Los Angeles-based venture philanthropic organization established in 1999 by Eli and Edythe Broad. The Foundation’s mission is to dramatically improve K-12 urban public education through better governance, management, labor relations and competition.
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