LAPEER, Michigan — Lapeer Community Schools (LCS) is proud to announce that Schickler Elementary and Murphy Elementary achieved the Reward School designation from the Michigan Department of Education (MDE) for the 2015-16 school year.

“We are very proud of the students and staff members at these schools for their hard work and dedication,” said LCS Superintendent Matt Wandrie. “This is a great honor for both schools and we look forward to celebrating this achievement with them.”

In order to be designated as a Reward School, a school must have achieved one or more of the following benchmarks:

• top 5% of schools on the Overall School Rankings
• top 5% of schools making the greatest gains in achievement (improvement metric) or
• “Beating the Odds” by outperforming the school’s predicted ranking and/or similar schools.

Murphy Elementary was listed among the top 5% of schools making greatest gains in achievement. Schickler Elementary was recognized for both “Beating the Odds” and for the improvement metric.

“Beating the Odds” schools overcome traditional barriers to student achievement and are outperforming schools with similar risk factors and demographic makeup.

Only 219 of the more than 3,000 schools in the state were recognized as Reward Schools in 2015-16.

For more information, please contact Jared Field at jfield@lapeerschools.org.