Hearty congratulations go out to the students, parents, and faculty of Liberty Common School in Colorado on being selected as one of 295 elite “Blue Ribbon Schools” by the Department of Education. That’s even more impressive considering there are about 120,000 public and private schools in the nation! With continued support and feedback from dedicated educators, activists, politicians, and parents, perhaps Core Knowledge will sweep the list one day.

The following letter was written by Principal Russ Spicer and published in the Liberty Common School newsletter.

Blue Ribbon and Accomplished School

Congratulations to the students, parents, staff and board of directors of Liberty Common School. This past week we were notified that our school received the 2005 United States Department of Education’s Blue Ribbon School award and was recognized as an “Accomplished School” from the Colorado Department of Education.

Last school year we were informed of our nomination by the Colorado Department of Education to the United States Department of Education for the Blue Ribbon School recognition. After formally applying, we continued with our successful program and optimistically waited to hear about the award.

The Blue Ribbon School program identifies schools that consistently perform at a high academic level or have made significant gains on the state standardized tests. Awards are divided among the states according to population, with California, Ohio, and Texas receiving the most. The Department of Education recognized Liberty Common School for consistently performing at a high academic level and for scoring in the top 10% of the state on the Colorado Student Assessment Program (CSAP). Only one other school from the state of Colorado, Maple Grove Elementary in Golden, was recognized for high academic performance. Bradford Elementary in Pueblo and Abrams Elementary in Colorado Springs were selected for demonstrating substantial improvement in their CSAP scores.

Liberty Common School also received the “Accomplished” school recognition from the Colorado Department of Education this past week. This recognition goes to schools that have scored 90% or better in reading, writing, or math for three consecutive years at any grade level. Liberty Common School achieved such scores in reading and writing in a number of different grades. Out of approximately 1700 schools in the state of Colorado only 75 schools were recognized as “Accomplished” in reading, and 14 schools in writing. Obviously, this is a difficult standard to achieve and we are very proud of our students that our school is being honored for its commitment to academic excellence.

I wish to extend my gratitude to our hardworking students, parents, staff, and board of directors. Everyone is setting high standards and pursuing them. A Blue Ribbon School and an “Accomplished” school, how great is that? I sure do love this school!

Lighting the way,

Russ Spicer