PEAK Award

The PEAK Award (Public Education Achieves in Kentucky)

Nomination Guidelines

The KSBA PEAK Award was established in 1997 to focus statewide attention on outstanding public school efforts aimed specifically at enhancing student learning skills and, in doing so, to promote the positive impact of public elementary and secondary education in this Commonwealth.

Twice each school year (in September and in March), KSBA accepts nominations from Kentucky's public school systems and will recognize one outstanding program. Recognition will come in the following forms:

a) selection is announced in the Kentucky School Advocate and in local and statewide press releases;

b) the unique, engraved PEAK Award statue is presented locally by a delegation from the KSBA Board of Directors and staff;

c) all PEAK Award honored programs are invited to present at KSBA's annual conference; and

d) with the local board's approval, KSBA endorses the self-nomination of all PEAK Award programs for consideration as special clinics at the next conference of the National School Boards Association.

Nomination Deadline

The deadline for the next series of nominations is March 13, 2008. Entries must be received at KSBA's offices no later than 4 p.m. ET on the deadline date. Entry packets should be marked for delivery to: PEAK AWARD, Kentucky School Boards Association, 260 Democrat Drive, Frankfort, KY 40601.

Entry Rules

Nominations will be accepted only from the local board of education and the district administration. Only programs specifically designed to improve the academic achievement of students will be considered for the PEAK Award. Nominated programs may be districtwide, shared by multiple schools or based at an individual school in the district. Programs already must be in operation; proposals will not be considered as eligible until implemented.

Nominations will consist of the following documents:

Program overview from the district with information on the following points:
1) objectives of the program; 2) scope of the program (one school, multiple schools, districtwide, number of students involved), 3) costs and funding source for the program; 4) degree of school board involvement; 5) an assessment of the progress of the program towards those stated goals. This overview shall be limited to no more than three pages. This portion of the entry will account for 60 percent of the scoring.
Two (2) letters of endorsement, specifically listing the reasons for that endorsement, one from each of the following individuals and/or entities:
One from a teacher (or teachers) involved in the program. This letter should detail the instructor's impressions on the impact and potential future impact of the program on academic achievement of students involved; and
One from or more students or parent(s) of students benefiting from the program. This letter should detail the program's helpful impact on the student's academic achievement or improved classroom instruction. Each of these two (2) letters will be judged as part of the entry with points scored for letters demonstrating both a knowledge of the goals and of the progress to date made by the program. Each letter may be no more than two pages. This portion of the entry will account for 40 percent of the scoring (20 percent for each letter.

No other materials submitted with an entry will be considered as part of the nomination nor will they be passed along for consideration by the panel of judges.

Programs not selected for the PEAK Award in their original cycle automatically will be reconsidered in the next cycle by new panel of judges. Programs not selected after two cycles may be renominated, but will not automatically continue under consideration.

Districts which have previously received the PEAK Award from wait a period of seven (7) years before being eligible for consideration for another program/project.

Judging

A panel of judges will be selected in advance of each nomination deadline. The panel will consist of two KSBA board members, a KSBA staff member and one representative each from the Kentucky Association of School Administrators and the Kentucky PTA. The final tabulation of the scores will be conducted by KSBA employees not involved in the judging.

PEAK Award Honor Roll of past recipients: (click to learn more about each)

WALTON-VERONA INDEPENDENT SAFE Agent - Fall 2007

ANDERSON COUNTY Cooperative Learning Structures - 2007

RUSSELL INDEPENDENT Orchestra Program - 2006

MARION CO. 21st Century After-School Program - 2006

DAVIESS COUNTY Laptops for Students Program - 2005

OWENSBORO Fine Arts Program - 2005

ESTILL COUNTY "No excuses" on student achievement - 2004

CAMPBELL COUNTY Building Better Brains - 2004

PROVIDENCE GEAR-UP Partnership - 2003

PULASKI COUNTY gifted and talented program - 2003

HARDIN COUNTY Literacy First Program - 2002

LOGAN COUNTY Professional Growth/Equity Program - 2002

PIKE COUNTY Leadership Academy - 2001

JOHNSON COUNTY OASIS Program - 2001

KENTON COUNTY Reading Recovery Program - 2001

BOWLING GREEN Excellence Through Diversity Program - 2000

RUSSELL COUNTY Assessment Improvement Program - 2000

UNION CO. KIDS COUNT Program - 2000

BOYD CO. AVID Program - 1999

GRANT CO. Arts Education Program - 1999

BOONE CO. Emotional Intelligence Program - 1999

BARREN CO. Junior Guard Program - 1998

DAVIESS CO. Graduation 2010 Brain Development - 1998

JEFFERSON CO. Micro-Society Program - 1998

SIMPSON CO. Alternative Calendar Intersessions - 1997

LINCOLN CO. Mobile Early Childhood Program - 1997

Service Contacts: Jennifer Wohlleb, Brad Hughes

Kentucky School Boards Association

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