Politics & Government

Bloomfield High School Awarded MetLife Foundation Award

The national award recognizes schools that have shown great improvement academically and socially within an economically disadvantaged student population.

 

Bloomfield High School has been awarded a national MetLife Foundation award, one of only ten schools nationally that received the distinction.

Sponsored by the National Association for Secondary School Principals (NASSP), the award recognizes schools that have shown great improvement academically and socially within an economically disadvantaged student population.  

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“The purpose of this award is to reward schools like Bloomfield that do well under challenging circumstances,” said Bloomfield High School Principal, Christopher Jennings. “It looks to recognize schools that have been able to close the achievement gap [to a significant degree.]”

At the moment, Bloomfield High School qualifies as a Title 1 school, “which means we’re economically disadvantaged at the moment,” explained Jennings.  That classification is determined by how many students apply for the federally funded free-or reduced-lunch program.

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Based on that criteria, Jennings said 45% of BHS students would be considered economically disadvantaged.  

“It has certainly increased over the past five years since I've been here, from about 25% to 45%,” he said.  “That's partly because of the economy [but even so] it doesn't mean Bloomfield got 25% poorer.  Part of it is a district initiative to find the students who qualify for federal funding.”

Jennings said he applied for the award knowing BHS would qualify.  “We knew our improvement qualified us,” he said.  “I felt optimistic.  Everything was documented.”

According to Jennings, the federally mandated program, No Child Left Behind, can produce an imcomplete picture of a school by only measuring test scores according to the Adequate Yearly Progress rubric.

“We struggle to meet the numbers set by AYP but those numbers are arbitrary, in a sense, because it doesn't measure what you’re achieving,” said Jennings, who praised the MetLife Foundation for rewarding schools that have shown sustained growth over a period of several years.

Bloomfield High School applied for the award last spring and was notified by the NASSP last summer that it was a semifinalist.  Jennings found out right before Thanksgiving that BHS won.

“We're very excited and proud.  We received a $5,000 stipend and I'm invited to attend the national conference in Tampa Bay March 8th-10th,” he said.  “The recognition and confirmation [of winning this award] is invaluable . . . in the world of education and accountability, you're always under the gun.   This allows us to pat ourselves on the back and say what we're doing is meaningful.”


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