The Broad Prize

The Broad Prize for Urban Education is an annual award created to honor urban school districts making the greatest overall improvement in student achievement while at the same time reducing achievement gaps across income and ethnic groups.

School districts that are awarded this prize do not receive it by focusing on lots of individual programs. They achieve it by addressing systemic change that leads to total transformation.

The specific data that is considered by the Broad Prize Review Board are as follows:

Mandated state tests in reading and math for elementary, middle and high schools.
Performance of a district compared with itself and compared with the performance for similar districts in the state (based on poverty levels).
Achievement gaps between African-American and Hispanic students compared to White students and between low-income and non-low-income students.
Graduation rate - calculated graduation rate based on the Manhattan Institute methodology from district demographic data.
SAT and ACT scores and participation rate.
National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) state average performance and improvement.
Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) performance.
District performance on the Trial Urban District Assessment, where available.
Student demographic data (income, language, ethnicity).

The Review Board then looks at the data, meets and discusses the results. There is no formula to choose the finalists.

For more information on the Broad Prize and the Broad Foundation, go to www.broadfoundation.org.