“The Colorado Legacy Foundation recognizes the important link between students’ health and their academic achievement,” said Dr. Jones. “Colorado’s rural school districts face unique challenges with respect to information sharing, financial resources, and access to services. It is an honor to be invited to present the incredible strides being made in Colorado to support these and all districts as they work to improve academic achievement by focusing on student health and wellness.”

Dr. Jones will showcase the work of Colorado’s Healthy School Champions Scorecard, which has been successful in engaging schools and districts, especially in rural communities, in the adoption and implementation of health and wellness practices.  This year, 32 districts from throughout Colorado were awarded a total of $42,000 as part of the Scorecard program. She will also speak about CLF’s partnership with the Colorado Department of Education and how this type of public/private partnership can be effective in advancing strategic reform efforts.

“The partnership between the Colorado Legacy Foundation and the Colorado Department of Education is unique and gaining attention as a national model,” said Colorado’s Commissioner of Education, Robert Hammond. “Our collaboration allows us to work statewide to leverage resources to build capacity and sustainability in school health and wellness efforts in a way that meaningfully supports educators and positively impacts student achievement.”

Guests at the day-long event will also hear from Secretary Duncan and Secretary Sebelius, as well as a number of leaders who are successfully promoting health and learning in schools across the United States. The event is sponsored by Healthy School Campaign and Trust for America’s Health and will feature the release of their new report, Health in Mind: Improving Education Through Wellness.

“The Colorado Legacy Schools program helps give students the skills they need to excel in college,” Gov. John Hickenlooper said. “By focusing on math, science and English, this program is preparing kids for 21st century careers and giving Colorado a competitive advantage over other states.”

Colorado Legacy Schools is a local replication of the proven Advanced Placement Training and Incentive Program, which has demonstrated an unprecedented track record closing achievement gaps and increasing college readiness in program schools. Colorado Legacy Schools piloted during the 2010-2011 school year, with a focus on dramatically improving the number and diversity of students who enroll in Advanced Placement (AP) coursework and receive qualifying scores on their exams.

“Recruiting and supporting students from all walks of life in rigorous, college-level coursework is a proven method to help close the achievement gap,” said Lt. Gov. Joe Garcia.  “Colorado’s kids deserve an education that sets them up for success, and the Colorado Legacy Schools program does just that.”

The initiative’s comprehensive approach increases teacher effectiveness and student achievement through content training, teacher and student support, open enrollment, and incentives for students and teachers.

“This program gets results and it gets results for students that too often don’t pursue or are not encouraged to pursue advanced classes,” said Dr. Helayne Jones, President and CEO of the Colorado Legacy Foundation. “We are honored to have the opportunity to expand Colorado Legacy Schools so that more students can share in the success of this proven program.”

“This program has the potential to dramatically boost student achievement in Colorado in the critical fields of science, technology, engineering and math,” said Dr. Mary Ann Rankin, President and CEO of NMSI.  She said the goal is to ensure that more Colorado students are better prepared for college and for the highly competitive jobs of the future, “because math and science are the currency of the 21st century.”

The Colorado Legacy Foundation expects to expand Colorado Legacy Schools to include an additional 10 high schools in 2013-2014, and yet another 10 in 2014-2015, for a total of thirty participating schools.

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“Nationally, there is growing awareness of the demonstrated link between student health and academic achievement,” said Dr. Helayne Jones, President and CEO of the Colorado Legacy Foundation. “It is an honor to recognize the great strides being made throughout Colorado and to offer today’s participants opportunities to learn from national experts and each other about creating and sustaining cultures of wellness within our schools.”

The 2012 Healthy School Champions received awards based on their completion of the Healthy School Champions’ Score Card, a voluntary, online self-assessment tool designed to measure best practices in the eight Coordinated School Health components. Sponsored by the Colorado Health Foundation, the day-long Summit featured two national health and wellness experts: Dr. Charles Basch, the Richard March Hoe Professor of Health Education at Teachers College, Columbia University; and Dr. James Marks, Senior Vice President and Director of the Health Group at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. During the event, Lt. Governor Joseph Garcia read a proclamation officially declaring April as Healthy Schools Month in Colorado.

“The Colorado Health Foundation’s vision is that, together, we will make Colorado the healthiest state in the nation,” said Anne Warhover, president and CEO of the Colorado Health Foundation. “We are pleased by the Colorado Legacy Foundation’s work to promote health and wellness for all Colorado students, and we are proud to sponsor such an important event.”

Educators, health experts, business leaders, and community organizations from around the state attended the Summit to hear from local and national experts about how to form strategies around elevating the importance of health and wellness in a school setting, creating safe and welcoming schools, and increasing meaningful community, parent and youth engagement, all for the purpose of creating sustainable and effective health and wellness practices in schools.

Some 30 Colorado high schools will share in a $10.5 million grant intended to broaden the diversity of students who take Advanced Placement tests.

Helayne Jones, president of the Colorado Legacy Foundation, this morning announced the grant from the National Math and Science Initiative, which is redistributing funds from a federal Investing in Innovation (i3) grant.

The funds will expand on an existing Legacy program and be used to support 30 Colorado high schools and their feeder schools with three-year grants intended to increase Advanced Placement enrollment and achievement in groups of students that typically haven’t participated.

“This program gets results, and it gets results for students who too often don’t pursue advanced classes,” said Jones. “The real focus of this work is achievement gap closing.” She said a small existing program involving seven high schools over the last two years has produced an 80 percent AP enrollment increase and a 53 percent increase in qualifying scores.

Read more here.

The Colorado Legacy Foundation will channel $10.5 million in federal funding over the next five years to a program that encourages enrollment in Advanced Placement classes to close the achievement gap.

The primary goal of the grant is to improve student performance among traditionally underserved students in 30 high schools. Colorado was one of only two states — Indiana was the other — to receive the federal funding, channeled through the National Math and Science Initiative.

“This is a complex program and so much more than getting kids to take advanced curriculum,” said Helayne Jones, president and CEO of the Colorado Legacy Foundation. “There’s proven research that shows kids who are not performing as well as they’d like benefit from having higher standards and curriculum. There’s a paradigm shift that supports the notion that every child can succeed and should be allowed to succeed in a rigorous curriculum.”

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The Colorado Legacy Foundation will expand its successful Legacy Schools Program to 30 high schools in the next three years, thanks to a $10.5 million grant from the National Math and Science Initiative.

The program, launched on a limited basis last year at seven pilot schools including Pueblo’s Centennial High School, seeks to increase enrollment and achievement in advanced-placement courses by providing support for students and training for teachers.

The Colorado Legacy Foundation supported a pilot of the program in Colorado in the 2010-2011 school year, with seven high schools participating.

Read more here.

Read more here.