State Superintendent Announces Schools of Honor Program; Presents Awards to Two Hamilton Local Schools

During a presentation assembly in Hamilton Intermediate School, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Dr. Richard A. Ross announced the Ohio Department of Education’s new Schools of Honor recognition program that recognizes schools that have sustained a high academic achievement and made substantial progress while serving a significant number of disadvantaged students.

Both, students and principals representing Hamilton Intermediate School and Hamilton Elementary School proudly accepted their banners for being named High Progress Schools of Honor by the state.

“To have State Superintendent Ross personally deliver and present these awards to our two very deserving schools is special,” said Christopher T. Lester, Hamilton Local School District superintendent. “It is another validation of the effort put forth by the students, faculty, parents, administrators, and staff members in these Schools of Honor.”

Accepting the banner for Hamilton Intermediate School were principal, J. Michael Meade, assistant principal, Amy Siegel, and eight student representatives.



“As a collective group, we have put in many hours of teaching, data collection, evaluation, and adaptation in order to get to this point,” explained Meade. “I am truly humbled to lead this great team of teachers and students who give all they have every day and are now being recognized by our state superintendent for their unrelenting effort.”

Hamilton Elementary School principal, Mark Tyler, assistant principal, Dr. Josh Conley, and eight student representatives were on hand to accept the banner for their school.



“Our team has worked very hard to create something special at Hamilton Elementary School,” shared Tyler. “To have Dr. Ross visit our district to acknowledge what we are doing shows that we are leading the way and performing at a very high level.”

All 54 of Ohio’s High Progress Schools of Honor have these distinguishing characteristics:

• Score in the top 10 percent of schools as ranked by combined gains in student achievement in reading and mathematics across all tested grade levels during the previous five-year period.
• Made the highest gains in increasing graduation rates (high schools only).
• Met or exceeded the Ohio Value-Added measure of student growth for the three most recent years.
• Had a Local Report Card rating of Effective or higher (Hamilton Intermediate is rated “Excellent with Distinction” and Hamilton Elementary is rated “Excellent”).
• Met Adequate Yearly Progress.