Miami-Dade County Wins 2012 Broad Prize

Kudos to Miami-Dade!

The winner of the 2012 Broad Prize for Urban Education is five-time finalist Miami-Dade County Public Schools.

As the winner of the award that recognizes the large urban school district making the greatest progress
in the country in raising student achievement, Miami-Dade will receive $550,000 in college scholarships for its high school seniors. Three finalist districts-----the Corona-Norco Unified School District in Southern California, Houston Independent School District and The School District of Palm Beach County in Florida-----will each receive $150,000 in scholarships.

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan joined philanthropist Eli Broad and retired Adm. Michael G. Mullen, former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, at The Museum of Modern Art on Oct. 23  

to announce the winner, which was selected by a bipartisan jury of 11 prominent leaders from government, business and public service, including two former U.S. secretaries of education.

The $1 million Broad Prize is an annual award that honors the four large urban school districts that demonstrate the strongest student achievement and improvement in student achievement while reducing achievement gaps among low-income and minority students. The 75 largest urban school districts in America are automatically eligible for the award each year.

As the nation's fourth-largest school district, Miami- Dade has nearly 350,000 students-----90 percent of whom are black or Hispanic and 74 percent of whom are low-income. The jury voted unanimously to select Miami-Dade as the winner. They noted that the district has outperformed peer districts in academic achievement, minority students reached advanced academic levels, the district improved college-readiness levels of its students and raised graduation rates for minority students.

Miami-Dade's win comes the fifth time the district was named a finalist for The Broad Prize, bringing the district's total prize winnings to $1.2 million in college scholarships for its students since 2006. The district was previous a finalist in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2011. This marks the first time Corona-Norco and Palm Beach County were finalists and a return for Houston, which won the inaugural Broad Prize  

in 2002.

Click here to learn more about what makes this year's Broad Prize winner and finalist districts stand out among their peers.