[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 21]
[Senate]
[Page 28881]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




   IPS CHARITY DYE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL 27: WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BLUE 
                          RIBBON SCHOOLS AWARD

 Mr. LUGAR. Mr. President, I rise today to recognize and 
congratulate Indianapolis Public School Charity Dye Elementary 27 as a 
recent recipient of the prestigious No Child Left Behind Blue Ribbon 
Schools Award.
  The Blue Ribbon Schools Program was established in 1982 to identify 
and recognize outstanding public and private schools across the United 
States. In keeping with the principles of the No Child Left Behind 
Act--the education reform bill signed into law in 2002--the 
requirements for this award have been strengthened and now focus more 
intently on student achievement results.
  Charity Dye Elementary School is an Indianapolis inner-city school, 
and is the first IPS school to receive this award in nearly 20 years. 
While the school faces all the same challenges as most inner-city 
schools, Charity Dye has shown that challenges can be overcome with 
hard work and dedication to the cause.
  Five years ago, the percentage of third grade students who passed the 
Indiana Statewide Testing for Educational Progress exam at Charity Dye 
was 30 percent. Last year, this number was 83 percent a gain of 50 
percentage points, and nearly 13 percentage points over the statewide 
average. This is an extraordinary turn around.
  Charity Dye has made this progress by internalizing the philosophy of 
the No Child Left Behind Act and operating under the assumption that 
every child can learn, and that every child will learn.
  I am very pleased to take this opportunity to applaud all the 
students, teachers, and administrators of Charity Dye Elementary School 
for their hard work and dedication to learning. I hope that the early 
love of learning will stay with each of the students of Charity Dye as 
they progress through school. And I encourage each and every one of 
Charity Dye's teachers, students, and administrators to keep up the 
excellent work.
  As a former mayor of Indianapolis, I am very proud of IPS Charity Dye 
Elementary 27 and offer this school as a model of excellence for other 
schools in Indiana and across the Nation.

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