Ansonville Elementary earned the title of School of Distinction when the results of the 2008-09 ABCs of Public Education were released on Thursday, Aug. 6.

Schools of Distinction are those that made expected growth in the ABCs program and had at least 80 percent of students at or above Achievement Level III. These schools receive plaques and certificates in recognition of their achievements.

Two Anson County schools— Anson Challenge Academy and Wadesboro Primary— earned High Growth status, in addition to Ansonville Elementary.

Schools making high growth are defined as those that achieved high growth standard goals that are set each year.

Five additional schools met expected growth goals but fell a bit short of achieving high growth. They were: Lilesville Elementary, Morven Elementary, Peachland-Polkton Elementary, Wadesboro Elementary and Anson New Technology School.

The two remaining Anson County schools included in the ABCs of Public Education— Anson High School and Anson Middle School— were named Low Performing Schools, meaning they failed to meet expected growth standards and less than 50 percent of the student population scored at or above Achievement Level III.

The State Board of Education developed the ABCs of Public Education program in 1996 in response to the School-Based Management and Accountability Program enacted by the General Assembly. The program focuses on Accountability, teaching the Basics with an emphasis on high educational standards and maximum local Control.

The program was tweaked in the 2002-03 school year, adding in requirements for the No Child Left Behind Act, which sets a proficiency goal of 100 percent for all the nation's schools by 2013-14.

Statewide, 121 schools achieved the highest status possible on the ABCs— Honor Schools of Excellence— while five were named Schools of Excellence and 502 earned the Schools of Distinction title, like Ansonville Elementary.

The complete results of the 2008-09 ABCs of Public Education, which can be searched by county or by school, are available online at http://abcs.ncpublicschools.org.