Richmond Community High School in the Near West End and Open High School in Oregon Hill have been recognized by U.S. News and World Report for being among America’s best schools.

Richmond Community and Open high schools received silver and bronze medals, respectively, in the ranking conducted by School Evaluation Services, a K-12 data research and analysis business operated by Standard & Poor’s.

More than 18,500 schools located in 40 states were analyzed according to how well students performed on state tests, how well each school’s disadvantaged students performed and whether the school was successful in providing college-level coursework.

Richmond Community was one of only 505 schools, or 3 percent, to be awarded a gold or silver medal. Open was one of 1,086 schools, or 6 percent, to earn bronze.

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In other Richmond Public Schools news, 3 city school teachers, including Adam R. Wallach from Thomas Jefferson High School won R.E.B. awards for teaching excellence. Wallach was awarded awarded $12,000 to travel and visit Holocaust sites and museums, including Auschwitz. Valerie Schwarz from Mary Munford Elementary School was a R.E.B. finalist and was awared $750.

Have a teacher you would like to recognize? Why not nominate him for one of these incredible grants from The Community Foundation. The deadline is February 29, 2008. We all know Richmond and Henrico have great teachers, why not recognize them and inspire them to learn so they can be even better teachers? Here’s the lowdown:

PURPOSE

R.E.B. Awards for Teaching Excellence, sponsored by the R.E.B. Foundation, is a supporting organization of TCF. The awards serve to identify, recognize, and promote excellence in classroom teaching in area public schools. Established in 1988, the program represents an important private sector initiative to strengthen the quality of public education by focusing on the teacher.

The program is based on the belief that a child’s educational experience at the elementary, middle, and high school levels should develop basic skills and form life-long positive habits toward learning and discipline. Further, the foundation is committed to improving public education so as to benefit a broad segment of our community.

Grants to individual teachers will be awarded to support professional development and enrichment activities and to share educational ideas and experiences with teacher colleagues. Grants support projects of the teachers’ own designs, including grants that support advanced degrees and world travel.

ELIGIBILITY

Nominations for the R.E.B. Awards for Teaching Excellence are invited from parents, students, educators, and the community at-large. Eligibility is limited to full-time classroom teachers employed by the public school divisions of the City of Richmond, Chesterfield, Hanover, and Henrico Counties, as well as the Departments of Correctional Education in these localities.

SIZE OF AWARDS

Competitive proposals will be invited from final candidates selected by the R.E.B Awards Steering Committee from among all teacher nominations. The size of individual grant awards will range from $4,000 to $12,000.