Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News) - Three elementary schools in the Rochester School District have been designated as “Celebration Eligible” by the Minnesota Department of Education.

The designation means students at Jefferson, Elton Hills, and Pinewood Elementary Schools earned scores on the state’s standardized assessments that were in the top 40-percent among the Title 1 schools in Minnesota.

On the other side of the coin, Riverside Elementary remains classified a Priority School because it’s test scores were in the bottom 5-percent among Title 1 schools, while Gage Elementary has been designated as a Focus School for having an extreme achievement gap. Sunset Terrace Elementary was removed this year from the list of Continuous Improvement Schools, while Franklin Elementary was added to the list, which is a designation for schools with test scores in the bottom 25 percent of Title 1 schools.

Superintendent Michael Munoz says, overall, the school district’s performance improved during the last school year.

The top ranking under the state’s system for tracking Adequate Yearly Progress under the federal No child Left Behind Law is a Reward School. None of Rochester’s schools achieved that ranking but in this area, Dover-Eyota, Chatfield, Caledonia, St. Charles, Rushford- Peterson, Wabasha-Kellogg, Zumbrota-Mazeppa, and Mabel-Canton Elementary Schools are being recognized for test scores in the top 10-percent of the Minnesota’s Title 1 schools.

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