LR educator wins Presidential award

July 23, 2009

Congratulations to Little Rock School District’s Monica Norwood, the state’s only 2009 winner of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching. Norwood, now an assistant principal at Cloverdale Middle School, earned the award with her work as a science teacher at Romine Elementary. In addition to attending a White House ceremony this [...]


Turn in those TOY applications

July 21, 2009

The August 14 deadline to turn in applications for Arkansas Teacher of the Year is just around the corner. We’ve already received several entries at the Arkansas Department of Education (ADE) and hope that all district TOY winners are planning to submit their forms. This is one of the state’s best opportunities to recognize the [...]


More students scoring proficient on every test

July 16, 2009

The Augmented Benchmark scores are back, and the results are terrific. Each grade level in both mathematics and literacy in addition to the End-of-Course tests in Geometry and Algebra and the 11th Grade Literacy Exam saw increases in the percentages of students scoring advanced and proficient. Link here to read the news release and see [...]


Two superintendents suffer losses of sons

July 16, 2009

This has been a heart-breaking week for the families of two Arkansas educators — Bob Watson, superintendent of El Dorado Schools, and Joe Couch, superintendent of Bergman schools — as both have lost sons to motorvehicle crashes. The staff of the Arkansas Department of Education expresses deep sympathies to both educators and their families. Posted [...]