<body><div><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=49NCGv_0vlBj6Iy00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=49NCGv_0vlBj6Iy00" width="1320" height="743" >Oxford, NE — A south central Nebraska school is making its mark nationally.Southern Valley Elementary School was recently recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as one of 356 National Blue Ribbon Schools for 2024. Only four of these schools are in Nebraska.The district’s superintendent said like a lot of schools, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Southern Valley Elementary struggled to tackle the hardships of having their students learn from home.“It became more data driven because before we’d collect data but we’re worried more about the kids who struggle and that kind of thing. After Covid, we became more focused on all kids because all kids could get behind because of the shutdown and that kind of thing,” said Bryce Jorgenson, Southern Valley Public Schools Superintendent.Southern Valley Elementary was given an "excellent" designation from the Nebraska Department of Education based on its state assessment data. According to that data, during the 2022-23 school year, 75% of the students were proficient in English Language Arts, while 82% were proficient in Math.Just to show how impressive that is, let's compare this to other schools across the state. Statewide, 58% of students were proficient in English Language Arts, while 61% were proficient in Math. Compared to other schools in the area, Southern Valley Elementary students scored much higher on statewide assessments.Students at both Howard Elementary in Grand Island and Alcott Elementary in Hastings were only 37% proficient in English Language Arts. Alcott students were 32% proficient in Math, while Howard students were 38% proficient in Math.At Southern Valley, technology has advanced just as fast as the young Eagle students boosted their scores. Jorgenson said students benefit from the use of technology even outside of the classroom.“We already had one to one computers, we have iPads for all the elementary kids. We have done some Chromebooks for the middle ages. So we’ve always had that before and so luckily we haven’t had to do a lot of technology upgrades,” Jorgenson said.</div></body>

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Small school goes national as Southern Valley receives blue ribbon recognition

Oxford, NE — A south central Nebraska school is making its mark nationally. Southern Valley Elementary School was recently recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as one of 356 National Blue Ribbon Schools for 2024. Only four of these schools are in Nebraska. The district’s superintendent said like...