Elementary Students Earn Keystone Achievement Awards

In 2004, the Pennsylvania Department of Education in partnership with the Pennsylvania Association of Federal Program Coordinators created a new award called the Keystone Achievement Award. The award is designed "to serve as public recognition of the quality work and commitment shown by Pennsylvania’s students and educators."

Recently we were informed that North Schuylkill’s elementary students, teachers and administrators were being honored with two Keystone Achievement Awards for the sustained academic achievement shown over the past two school years, in both Ringtown Elementary and North Schuylkill Elementary.

According to a press release issued by Education Secretary Gerald L. Zahorchak, “The Keystone Achievement Awards reinforce the hard work our schools are executing and the success they are achieving...Schools are overcoming obstacles by implementing quality instruction, adopting research proven strategies and aligning their curriculum to academic standards.”

Congratulations to our elementary students, staff, and principals on this fine accomplishment!


Keystone Achievement Awards were given to public schools that achieved Adequate Yearly Progress in both the 2007-08 and 2008-09 school years. AYP is determined, in part, by a school’s performance on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment, the standardized test given annually to students in grades 3-8 and 11. Each school that earns a Keystone Achievement Award receives a large, keystone-shaped placard that can be displayed at the school.