Middle school wins reading award from state administrators' group

Fort Scott Middle School has received recognition from the Kansas Association of Middle School Administrators.

The school recently received Gold Level Recognition in Reading, the KAMSA's highest award for outstanding student achievement. The award is given by KAMSA to schools that earn the state's Standard of Excellence in either math or reading, or that have at least 10 percent growth building-wide in the percentage of students meeting proficiency in math or reading.

FSMS was one of 60 middle schools in Kansas to earn the recognition. The school has an enrollment of about 450 sixth-through eighth grade students.

Principal Barbara Albright said this is the first time FSMS has received the award. She credited hard work by teachers and students at the school.

"I think it's the excellent teaching in reading that we have at Fort Scott Middle School," she said. "We have outstanding teachers and students who want to do well. The focus at the middle school is doing our best in math and reading."

Albright said the school received the award this year based on student accomplishment on last spring's state assessments.

"There's been a lot of improvement at our school," she said.

Last year, FSMS earned a building-level SOE in reading and grade-level awards for seventh- and eighth- grade reading from the Kansas State Department of Education based on results from last year's state assessments.

Statewide targets in reading and math last year for kindergarten through eighth grades were 83.7 percent for reading and 82.3 percent for math. FSMS exceeded the reading requirement with 86.4 percent of all students meeting standards or above on the reading assessments, Albright said.

FSMS received the award at the organization's annual conference May 8-9 in Topeka. High Performing Schools were honored during the KAMSA awards luncheon May 9 at Washburn University. Kansas Association of School Boards Executive Director John Heim was the featured speaker at the luncheon.

According to the KAMSA, schools that have "demonstrated great achievement" on state assessments are recognized annually during a spring conference. There are three levels of recognition, including gold, silver and bronze standards.