A+ VIDEO (requires QuickTime)
What is the A+ Award?
The A+ School Recognition Program is designed to identify and recognize schools that exemplify excellence in the following areas: student focus and support, active teaching and learning, curriculum, community/ parent involvement, leadership and assessment data. The A+ Program is open to K-12 public schools throughout Arizona. The A+ Award is valid for three years.
A+ Schools are evaluated based on a lengthy application and rigorous site visit by the A+ review panel, which consists of teachers, administrators, community volunteers and business leaders. Preparation of each school’s application involves its students, faculty, administration and surrounding community.
Corporate sponsors that make the A+ School Recognition Program possible are: APS, The Arizona Republic/Season for Sharing, Desert Schools Federal Credit Union and Safeway. The A+ Program is administered by the Arizona Educational Foundation (AEF) founded in 1983 to improve education in public schools by partnering with the private sector to recognize and reward excellence in K-12 public education in Arizona. More information about the A+ School Recognition Program and the Arizona Educational Foundation can be found at www.azedfoundation.org.
GMMS Receives A+ Award!
On April 18, 2008, the staff at Granite Mountain Middle School received news that GMMS had received the A + School award.
In 2008, the staff at GMMS, always believing that "Good enough just isn't," embarked on a mission to have our school, its staff, and students recognized for the excellence in which we believe by applying for the Arizona Deparment of Education's A+ Recognition Award. The application process, with all of the self-evaluation required for such an endeavor, was both demanding and rewarding, bringing us even closer together as a staff in our vision to offer a quality education to EVERY student, as well as providing a warm, caring place for all of us in which to work! The process was incredibly rewarding.
Special thanks go to the following faculty members for their part in authoring and editing the lengthy A+ application document:
Jen Curtis, Primary Author/Editor
Elizabeth Couvreur, Co-Editor
Jalynn Bacon-Dorrow, Co-Editor
Robert Ernst, Co-Editor
Dalma Rose, Co-Editor