Boston Competes for Largest National Education Award: The Broad Prize

Los Angeles, Calif. - Boston Public Schools has been chosen from the over 16,000 school districts nationwide as one of five contenders to win the second annual Broad Prize. The Broad Prize is a $1,000,000 prize awarded to the most outstanding urban school districts in the nation. Boston has been chosen as a finalist for the second year in a row. As a nominee, the district is eligible to win a half-million dollar prize for improving student achievement.

Boston Public Schools is one of only five school districts in the nation chosen as a finalist for the Broad Prize for Urban Education. The Broad Prize showcases urban school districts across America that have made significant gains in overall student achievement. The winner, to be announced in September 2003, will be awarded $500,000, and each of the four finalists will receive $125,000. The cash awards will fund scholarships for students in the five districts to attend college or other post-secondary training.

The other 2003 district finalists are Garden Grove Unified School District (CA), Jefferson County Public Schools (Louisville, KY), Long Beach Unified School District (CA), and Norfolk Public Schools (VA).

"These five districts demonstrate our nation's most successful efforts in raising student achievement and closing the ethnic and income achievement gaps," said Eli Broad, founder of The Broad Foundation. "These school systems are models of educational innovation, resourcefulness and dedication, and it is critical that we recognize their success and share their strategies with educators and the public across the country."

Boston Public Schools was also selected as a finalist for The Broad Prize in 2002, then in its inaugural year. The top prize went to Houston Independent School District, chosen for its dramatic increase in student achievement, the speed with which it accomplished this improvement, and its reduction of the achievement gaps between ethnic and income groups.

The Broad Prize combines the spirit of the Pulitzer Prize and the reward of the Nobel Prize by serving not only as an incentive for excellence, but also providing a monetary reward for improved student achievement.

"Being chosen as a finalist for the Broad Prize for Urban Education is an honor. This is an achievement our entire community can be proud of -- it shows that our schools are working and they are achieving at the highest levels in the country," said Thomas W. Payzant, Boston Public Schools Superintendent. "We are proud that Boston educators, students, parents, and community partners have developed a model for the nation."

The Broad Prize for Urban Education is designed to:

• Regain the American public's confidence in public schools by spotlighting districts making significant gains in student achievement.
• Create an incentive to dramatically increase student achievement in the nation's largest urban school districts.
• Reward public school systems that are successfully using creative, results-oriented approaches and techniques to better educate children.

In addition to the cash award, the winner of The Broad Prize for Urban Education will be showcased nationwide over the following year. The winning school district's best instruction and management practices will be spotlighted so that other urban school systems can learn about and adopt successful practices.

The process to select the winner of The Broad Prize for Urban Education involves four steps:

1. Over 100 U.S. urban school districts were identified as eligible candidates.
2. A Review Board, comprised of 20 prominent education leaders from across the country -- with the help of the National Center for Educational Accountability (NCEA) -- analyzed extensive quantitative data and used their collective knowledge and experience to determine the finalists.
3. Under NCEA's guidance, a team of researchers and practitioners will conduct site visits to each finalist district in May and June to gather additional quantitative and qualitative data and meet with each district's school board, superintendent and union leaders.
4. A Selection Jury will meet this summer to review the information collected on the site visits and information considered by the Review Board to select one district as the winner of the annual Broad Prize for Urban Education.

The Selection Jury is comprised of leaders in business, government and philanthropy. The jury includes: Henry Cisneros, CEO of American City Vista; Phil Condit, CEO of The Boeing Company; Marian Wright Edelman, President, Children's Defense Fund; John Engler, Former Governor of Michigan; Jim Hunt, Former Governor of North Carolina; Richard D. Parsons, CEO, AOL Time Warner; Paul Patton, Governor of Kentucky; Hugh Price, Former President of the National Urban League; Richard Riley, Former US Secretary of Education; Judith Rodin, President, The University of Pennsylvania; Andrew L. Stern, President of the Service Employees International Union; and Jack Welch, Former CEO of General Electric.

CONTACT: Stacie Spector: 310-954-5050
The Broad Foundation is a Los Angeles-based entrepreneurial grant-making organization, established in 1999 by Eli and Edythe Broad. The Foundation started with an initial investment of $100 million that has since been increased by the Broad family to $400 million. The Foundation's mission is to dramatically improve K-12 urban public education through better governance, management and labor relations.