‘CLAS’ OF ITS OWN: SPARK selected as School of Distinction
Published 6:45 am Friday, January 11, 2019
- The staff of SPARK Academy at Cowart Elementary School in Athens gathers for a group photo at its 2018 summer retreat. The school was recently selected as a 2018 School of Distinction by the Council for Leaders in Alabama Schools, or CLAS.
SPARK Academy at Cowart Elementary School has been selected as a 2018 School of Distinction by the Council for Leaders in Alabama Schools, or CLAS, officials with Athens City Schools announced this week.
The award “recognizes schools that serve as outstanding educational models for other schools in Alabama,” said a press release from the school system.
SPARK Academy is one of three schools in Alabama State Board of Education District 8 to receive the honor this year. Bob Jones High School with Madison City Schools and John S. Jones Elementary School with Etowah County Schools were also selected. About 160 schools were nominated for the recognition.
The CLAS Banner School program was created in 2001 to recognize schools in Alabama that showcase outstanding programs and service to students.
“The CLAS Schools of Distinction provide excellent examples of the significant learning opportunities taking place in public education in Alabama,” said Dr. Vic Wilson, director of CLAS. “Further, the stakeholders at every School of Distinction are to be commended for striving for excellence daily.” The schools will be recognized at a Feb. 25 luncheon in Prattville. The District 8 CLAS Banner School will be announced at the event.
“We [SPARK Academy] have worked so hard as a school team and as a community to transition into a discovery-driven instructional model that encourages student curiosity and questioning,” said SPARK Academy Principal Dr. Beth McKinney. “This recognition is acknowledgement of all of our hard work.”
Athens City Schools Superintendent Trey Holladay said he is proud of the recognition. He said the staff at SPARK has embraced implementing a new way to teach traditional standards while integrating project-based learning with the school’s focus on science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
“This shift in approach changes not what we teach but how we teach it, and is the beginning of what innovative schools will look like in the future,” Holladay said. “It is fitting that they be awarded for serving as an outstanding educational model for other schools, because they truly are.”
