By Shelly Zeller, Alden Advance

The Minnesota Department of Education announced that Alden-Conger Elementary School is one of the only 22 schools in Minnesota being recognized as a Celebration School for its efforts to increase student achievement.

The application process, which took place last fall, selects schools based on their success in describing the initiatives that have led to positive student outcomes.

The Celebration School designation is part of Minnesota’s federal accountability and recognition system.

Alden-Conger Superintendent Brian Shanks celebrated the achievement with students and teachers Monday afternoon.

“With over 2,000 schools in Minnesota, we are celebrating you guys,” he said to the students. “This means all the hard work last spring with testing, everyone did so well, showed growth and improvement and just how great you guys are.”

Shanks asked the students who helped them get to this level of learning.

“The teachers,” the students shouted in excitement.

He told the students, “This means when your teachers talk about the importance of testing and trying hard, it’s important,” he said. “And this shows us you listened.”

Celebration Eligible schools are identified annually based on MMR results. The Multiple Measurements Rating (MMR) is a 0 to 100 percent for all schools in the state and includes data on proficiency, growth, achievement gap reduction and graduation rates. The Focus Rating (FR) is a 0 to 100 percent for all schools in the state and includes data on proficiency and growth for only students of color, special education students, students in poverty and English learners.

Alden-Conger Public School District’s Elementary received a MMR rating of 79.97 percent and FR rating of 67.54 percent.

According to Mr. Shanks, the next step is to become a Reward School, which would only be 1 of 15 recognized in the state. “That is our goal and when we raise our test scores, this will be possible.”

Within the last three years, 30 percent of schools that have been recognized as Celebration Schools have gone onto the next category and became Reward Schools.