2009 Broad Prize for Urban Education Awarded to Aldine Independent School District; Texas District Wins $1 Million, Four Finalists Each Win $250,000
WASHINGTON, September 16, 2009 — The Aldine Independent School District (AISD) outside Houston won the 2009 Broad Prize for Urban Education, the largest education award in the country, and as a result will receive $1 million in college scholarships, The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation announced today.
Aldine, where four out of five students qualify for free and reduced-priced school lunch, has shown some of the most consistent student achievement gains nationally in the last decade and has been recognized as one of the top five most improved urban American school systems in four of the last six years.
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan joined philanthropist Eli Broad and members of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. to announce the winner. Aldine ISD was selected by a bipartisan jury of eight prominent American leaders from government, education, business and civic sectors, including three former U.S. secretaries of education.
The $2 million Broad (rhymes with “road”) Prize is an annual award that honors the five large urban school districts that demonstrate the strongest student achievement and improvement while narrowing achievement gaps between income and ethnic groups. The money goes directly to graduating high school seniors for college scholarships.
"Aldine shows us that it's possible for a district facing tough circumstances to get excellent results," said Secretary Arne Duncan, who opened up the envelope and announced the winner. "We need to highlight the success of Aldine and districts like it so that others can follow their examples and lift up all students."
As the winner of The Broad Prize, the Aldine Independent School District will receive $1 million in college scholarships for graduating seniors next spring. The four finalists—Broward County Public Schools in southern Florida; Gwinnett County Public Schools outside Atlanta; the Long Beach Unified School District in California; and the Socorro Independent School District in Texas—will each receive $250,000 in college scholarships. Long Beach won the 2003 Broad Prize, and this marked the third year that the former winner returned as a finalist. Broward is a two-time finalist for the award, while this was Gwinnett’s and Socorro’s first year in the running.
- Companies:
- Aldine Independent School District
- Boston Public Schools
- Broward County Public Schools
- Brownsville Independent School District
- Chartwell Education Group
- CityView America
- Garden Grove Unified School District
- Gwinnett County Public Schools
- Houston Independent School District
- Hunt Institute for Educational Leadership and Policy
- Long Beach Unified School District
- MPR Associates, Inc.
- National Chamber Foundation
- New York City Department of Education
- Norfolk Public Schools
- Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
- SchoolWorks
- Service Employees International Union
- Socorro Independent School District
- The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation
- U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
- University of Miami
- Univision
- Places:
- Aldine Independent School District
- Atlanta
- Beverly, Mass.
- Brownsville Independent School District
- California
- Garden Grove Unified School District
- Houston
- Long Beach
- Long Beach Unified School District
- New York City
- North Carolina
- Socorro Independent School District
- South Carolina
- Southern Florida
- Texas District
- U.S.
- Washington, D.C.