Jackson Elementary School has once again been named a Four-Star School, the state’s highest school ranking based on test scores and attendance rates.

The Indiana Department of Education on Wednesday released the annual listing of Four-Star Schools for the 2008-09 school year. A total of 188 schools made the list.

Jackson Elementary has been named a Four-Star School a number of times. Schools receive the designation if they perform in the top 25 percent of all schools in the state in the percent of students passing both the English/language arts and math portions of the ISTEP tests, the language and math proficiency scores on ISTEP, and their attendance rate.

At Jackson, 80 percent of the students passed both portions of ISTEP, and the attendance rate was 97.2 percent.

Though the school designations were not announced by the state until Wednesday, Duneland Superintendent Dirk Baer said at Tuesday night’s school board meeting that Jackson was on the list -- an announcement that was hailed as one piece of positive news at a time when Duneland is facing a huge budget shortfall due in part to state revenue cuts.

In a press release, Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett noted that the Four Star schools represent the top 25 percent of schools in the state.

“I want to congratulate all 188 Four Star recipients for their outstanding achievement, and I challenge other Hoosier schools to push for more from their students, parents and educators. I am confident they, too, can be among the best,” he said.

For the list of all 188 Four Star Schools, go to: http://www.doe.in.gov/accreditation/fourstar.html.

Other Porter County schools that received the Four-Star designation were the following:

•Portage Township Schools: Kyle and Myers elementary.

•Valparaiso Schools: Cooks Corners, Hayes Leonard, Northview and Memorial elementary schools; Ben Franklin Middle School.

•East Porter County School Corp.: All six schools. (One elementary and one middle/high school each in Washington, Morgan and Kouts).

•Porter Township School Corp.: Boone Grove Elementary School.

•Union Township School Corp.: Union Elementary School.

Elsewhere in Northwest Indiana, the schools that made the designation were one elementary school in Gary, three elementary schools in Crown Point, and three elementary and one middle school in LaPorte.

Posted 1/14/2010