[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 52 (Wednesday, April 14, 2010)]
[House]
[Page H2511]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             DUBOIS AREA MIDDLE SCHOOL LEVEL OF EXCELLENCE

  (Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania asked and was given permission to 
address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I draw your attention 
today to the DuBois Area Middle School and its outstanding level of 
excellence. It has been awarded, for the second time, the designation 
of the Pennsylvania Don Eichhorn Schools: Schools to Watch program.
  The National Forum sponsors this program, and schools are chosen for 
the honor of achieving academic excellence based on the rigorous 37 
criteria established by the National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades 
Reform. They must be academically excellent, developmentally 
responsive, and socially equitable.
  The school is one of 15 in the State and only 200 nationally ever to 
be honored as a School to Watch. It is the first school in the State to 
receive a redesignation for 2010 to 2013, and it first achieved the 
honor in 2007.
  The National Forum looks at these schools as part of the effort to 
identify and learn from high-performing middle schools, and to have the 
Schools to Watch serve as resources for other schools. There are 18 
States participating in the program.
  To achieve this award, high-performing schools establish norms, 
structures, and organizational arrangements to support and sustain 
their path towards excellence. They have a sense of purpose that drives 
every facet of practice and decisionmaking.
  And I want to congratulate Principal Mike Newman and the teachers, 
students, personnel, and parents that are responsible for this fine 
school.

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