Broad Foundation Announces Finalists for 2005 Broad Prize; $1 Million Awarded to Urban School Districts Improving Student Achievement.

LOS ANGELES -- The Broad Foundation announced today the finalists of the 2005 Broad Prize for Urban Education, an annual $1 million prize given to the most outstanding urban school districts in the nation.

The five finalists for the 2005 Broad Prize for Urban Education are:

--Aldine Independent School District near Houston

--Boston Public Schools

--New York City Department of Education

--Norfolk Public Schools

--San Francisco Unified School District 

The Broad Prize for Urban Education is an annual award that honors the country's urban school districts that are making the greatest improvements in student achievement while reducing achievement gaps among ethnic groups and between high- and low-income students. The prize is the largest education award in the country given to a single school district.

The winner of The Broad Prize will receive $500,000 in scholarships for graduating seniors. Each finalist district will receive $125,000 in scholarships. The winner will be announced on Sept. 20 in Washington, D.C.

"There is no greater issue facing our country than the state of public education," said Eli Broad, founder of The Broad Foundation. "We are encouraged that large urban districts - which often face the toughest challenges -- are having success in improving the education of all children, regardless of their race or family income. This prize is designed to reward and showcase their successes so that other districts can learn from their best practices."

The Broad Prize was started in 2002. The inaugural winner was the Houston Independent School District, followed by Long Beach Unified School District in 2003 and Garden Grove Unified School District last year.

This is the fourth year Boston has been a finalist, the third year for Norfolk and the second for Aldine.

More than 80 urban school districts nationwide were eligible for The Broad Prize this year. The five finalist districts were selected based on a rigorous review of data compiled and analyzed by the National Center for Educational Accountability. A board of 18 prominent educational leaders then reviewed the data and selected the five finalist districts.

Over the next two months, teams of educational researchers and practitioners will conduct site visits at each of the finalist school districts to gather statistical and qualitative information, including interviews with district administrators, focus groups with teachers and principals, and classroom observations. The information will then be presented to a selection jury, comprised of 13 prominent individuals from business and industry, education and public service, to choose the winning school district.

Based in Austin, Texas, the National Center for Educational Accountability is a collaborative effort of the Education Commission of the States, the University of Texas at Austin, and Just for the Kids to improve learning through the effective use of school and student data and the identification of best practices.

The Broad Foundation is a Los Angeles-based venture philanthropic organization established in 1999 by Eli and Edythe Broad. The Foundation's mission is to dramatically improve K-12 urban public education through better governance, management, labor relations and competition. In addition to The Broad Prize, The Broad Foundation's major initiatives include The Broad Superintendents Academy, a ten-month executive management program to train working CEOs and other top executives from business, non-profit, military, government and education backgrounds to lead urban public school systems; and The Broad Institute for School Boards, an annual training program for newly elected school board members designed to increase student achievement through improved governance. The Broad Foundation's Internet address is www.broadfoundation.org.