Edgewood Lauded As Four-Star School By Education Dept.

Edgewood Middle School, Warsaw, was recently designated by the Indiana Department of Education as a four-star school.

The honor was the third time in the last nine years that Edgewood achieved this status, said Jerry Chabot, principal.

"We were just very pleased when we were notified," Chabot said today.

He said the school received the recognition for achieving high results in 1997 ISTEP language arts and math scores, for attendance rates and for scoring in the top 25 percent of all schools in Indiana.

"I think that we are devoting some real quality time to language arts in particular," he said, citing the school's sustained reading program specifically.

Along with the academic recognition goes a monetary award of $3,508.40. Chabot said the cash will probably go for instructional supplies in math and language arts and for remediation for students who fell below the standards.

Edgewood was the only school in Kosciusko County to be named a four-star school, but other area schools received incentive awards for improving in two of four areas: total performance on ISTEP+, language arts scores on ISTEP+, mathematics ISTEP+ scores and attendance rates.

The cash awards are given to the individual schools under a law that specifies that each school may use the money for "any educational purpose except for athletics or for teacher salaries or bonuses," according to the IDE.

Area schools that received awards were:

Warsaw Community Schools - total of $35,913.39; WCHS, $19,905.97; Lakeview Middle School, $5,149.18; Edgewood Middle School, $3,508.40; Lincoln Elementary, $2,506.68; Leesburg Elementary, $2,685.78; Washington Elementary, $2,157.38. Non-monetary awards, for improvement in one area only, went to Claypool, Madison and Harrison elementaries.

Wawasee Community School Corp. - total of $19,156.74; Wawasee High School, $10,282.62; Milford School, $5,304.37; Wawasee Middle School, $3,569.85. Non-monetary recognition went to Syracuse Elementary.

Whitko Community School Corp. - total of $10,776.59; Whitko High School, $4,633.38; Pierceton Elementary, $3,557.65; South Whitley Elementary, $2,585.56.

Tippecanoe Valley School Corp. - total of $5,070.21, all awarded to Tippecanoe Valley High School. Non-monetary awards went to Tippecanoe Valley Middle School, Burket Elementary and Mentone Elementary.

Triton School Corp. - Non-monetary recognition went to Triton Elementary.