EL Blog

Aguilar High School in Aguilar, Colorado received two golden bells mounted on plaques from EdisonLearning to recognize the five percent improvement in its accreditation rating over last year.

EdisonLearning is working with Aguilar schools to help them regain accreditation from the Colorado Department of Education. Only those schools which have made significant improvement quality for EdisonLearning’s Golden Bell Award.

Superintendent Dave Seaney said the awards have encouraged both students and teachers to continue striving toward academic excellence.

“We had a five percent increase in our accreditation rating,” Seaney said. ”That’s huge for one year. That includes our academic achievement, our academic growth, our graduation rate and our ability to close the gaps between kids who have resources and kids who don’t have resources. It shows our staff is working very hard to ensure the kids have a good learning environment.”


Read more about EdisonLearning’s experience partnering with schools, districts, governments, organizations, charter authorizers, and board to improve student achievement.

Two EdisonLearning partnership schools in Indianapolis embody our eight core values: Rosa Parks-Edison (RPE) and Jeremiah Gray-Edison (JGE).

Step into the entrance of either elementary school, and large banners visually remind visitors that the eight core values permeate everything that happens here. But more important than the visuals, visitors often comment on how well-behaved students appear to be, showing that high expectations and core values are not just being talked about, but they‘re being lived by students and staff alike every single day.

Multiple strategies are critical to a quality core value implementation. Both schools intentionally review core values at the beginning of each year and then highlight a single value each month. The hallway environment is full of reminders. At RPE, the library always features books that focus on the monthly Core Value. At JGE, each class has a Core Value Buddy Class they work with monthly; students are paired up, the older students mentoring the younger.

Both schools emphasize helping others. At JGE, on twice-a-month Jeans Day, students and staff pay a quarter to wear jeans, with the proceeds going to special charities. Right now, the value of the month is Compassion, so they‘re collecting items to donate to the homeless. Earlier, when a student had leukemia, they donated funds to the Leukemia Society.

RPE students also have many opportunities to participate in service learning, gaining hands-on experience helping others; recent projects include: Koins for Kids (raised over $3500 in change for local teacher mini grants), Food Drive for Hunger Inc (collected over 2170 pounds of food), and The Big Thank You (program sends a “thank you” letter on Thanksgiving morning to every soldier oversees).

When asked to identify a single strategy with the highest impact at her school, Principal Liz Fox mentioned a similar strategy in use at JGE: Core Value Brag Tags which individually represent each Core Value.

At RPE, Principal Claire Taylor responded, “When we work with students in a discipline setting, we always refer back to the Core Values in the choice they made, and we ask, “Which core value is missing in this choice?” Students also complete a "Think-it Through" reflection to process their choices and the impact on themselves and others.”

This year, JGE students and staff have had an unexpected opportunity to exemplify the core values. While they understand the importance of using the eight core values with any students new to the school, this year has been unique: they have excitedly welcomed many children from Myanmar (formerly Burma).

These new students are refugees brought to the United States from refugee camps in Malaysia by several church groups. Most have never attended any school and speak no English, and many have never experienced electricity or plumbing. Principal Fox says that they “almost need to calm students down because they want to show the new children everything at once and then help them do everything! It is awesome to watch!”

During announcements each Monday, students sing and act out the Moral Macarena (add Macarena rhythm and descriptive actions to: Wisdom – Justice – Courage – Com- passion – Hope – Respect – Responsibility – Integrity, and you have the Moral Maca- rena!) Students eagerly help their new classmates understand the core values and learn the song and actions so they too can join in...and eventually exemplify the values throughout the school day.

Thank you, Rosa Parks-Edison and Jeremiah Gray-Edison staff and students for showing us what it means to exemplify all eight core values!