Eastanollee Elementary School Receives Georgia 's Highest Award for Performance Excellence

ATLANTA – Last week Governor Sonny Perdue called officials at Eastanollee Elementary School , to congratulate the school on being named the 2005 Georgia Oglethorpe Award recipient. 

Named after Georgia 's founder, James Edward Oglethorpe, and based on the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award criteria, the Georgia Oglethorpe Award is the state's highest recognition for organizational performance excellence.  Eastanollee Elementary School , part of the Stephens County School System, becomes Stephens County 's second school to receive the prestigious award.  In 2001, Stephens County Middle School was the first school to receive the Georgia Oglethorpe Award.

“It is a pleasure to recognize Eastanollee Elementary for its superior performance and continued improvement measures,” said Governor Sonny Perdue.  "Eastanollee does an excellent job using technology to collect data and information for fact-based communication and decision making.  They are focused on student learning and an example for schools all over the state.”

Eastanollee Elementary will receive the award during the Georgia Oglethorpe Annual Conference & Awards Banquet to be held September 26-27, 2005 at the Century Center Marriott in Atlanta . 

In 2004, Governor Perdue congratulated The HON Company in Cedartown , Georgia , for receiving the Georgia Oglethorpe Award and in 2003, the Boeing Company, located in Macon , Georgia . 

“Receiving this award is such an honor and a wonderful tribute to the hard work of our teachers, staff and administration at Eastanollee Elementary.  Everyone here is committed to continuous improvement.” said Eastanollee Principal Bob Stowe.  “The school submitted a fifty page self-assessment to Georgia Oglethorpe as a way of examining our effectiveness.  We have found the entire process – including site visit, analysis, and feedback by the examiners – to be extremely valuable for us. Without the volunteer Georgia Oglethorpe examiners, we would never have had the resources to participate,” said Stowe.

Eastanollee has seen its students continue to improve on the Criterion Referenced Competency Test (CRCT). The percentage of students meeting the criteria has steadily increased, reaching 94 percent in 2005. This is particularly meaningful as 57 percent of Eastanollee's students receive free or reduced lunches.  “With affirmation from high student achievement, and now this prestigious award, Eastanollee sees that its hard work and team approach certainly benefit the children of Stephens County ,” said Gary Steppe, Superintendent, Stephens County Schools .

“This is a tremendous achievement for Eastanollee Elementary,” said Victoria Taylor, Georgia Oglethorpe's Executive Director.  “Team Eastanollee Elementary views its school as an interdependent system for educating its students. The school is truly a role model for other schools.”  According to Taylor , being named an award recipient requires a broad, rigorous self- and third-party assessment of your organization against the Georgia Oglethorpe criteria.

In its first seven years, Georgia Oglethorpe's all-volunteer Board of Examiners provided more than $3 million in essentially free consulting to 44 Georgia organizations through its assessment and feedback process.  Georgia Oglethorpe is a nonprofit, public-private partnership located at the Georgia Department of Labor.  It provides education, assessment, feedback, and recognition based on the national Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence as a service to Georgia organizations.  For more information, please contact the Georgia Oglethorpe office at 404.232.3808 (voice mail), goap@mindpring.com, or visit their web site at  www.GeorgiaOglethorpe.org .