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The State Education Department designated five schools as 2017 Essential Elements: Schools to Watch (EE:STW), Commissioner MaryEllen Elia announced today.�� The designation is awarded to exceptional middle grade schools that meet a rigorous set of criteria and are on a path of continuous improvement.

“All of these remarkable middle schools are dedicated to the young adolescents they serve,” Chancellor Betty A. Rosa said.�� “School leaders in each school are committed to improvement and sharing their successful practices with other schools across New York.”

“The time students spend in the middle grades is critical to both their personal growth and development as well as their success in high school,” Commissioner Elia said.�� “School improvement is a journey, not an event, and these schools have embarked on a journey to a positive period of intellectual and personal development for their students.”

New York is proud to designate five exemplary schools serving the middle grades. Two earned the designation for the first time in 2017, two are earning a designation for the third time and one is being recognized for a fourth time.��

• Ada M. Cosgrove Middle School, Spencerport (Newly Identified)
• Memorial Junior High School, Valley Stream (Newly Identified)
• Garden City Middle School, Garden City (3^rd Designation)
• Carrie Palmer Weber Middle School, Port Washington (3^rd Designation)
• Pioneer Middle School, Yorkshire (4^th Designation)

EE:STW is a state administered national program overseen by the New York State Department of Education, the New York State Middle School Association and the Statewide Network of Middle Level Liaisons. ��The program recognizes schools that demonstrate continuous improvement and excel in the following four domains; academic excellence, developmental responsiveness, social equity, and organizational structure.

EE:STW is an honor designed to promote and guide the school improvement process, as well as highlight characteristics of high performing middle grade schools. ��Each school earning the designation holds that honor for three years, then must reapply and be reevaluated to continue the honor of calling itself a School to Watch.

For more information on this program, please visit the New York .

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