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Grants Overview

BANK OF COLORADO INNOVATION AWARD

The Bank of Colorado Education Innovation Award is a coveted grant given to the Durango 9R teacher or school proposing the most promising and innovative program; the award is administered by the Durango Education Foundation. This generous $5,000 annual award has been funded by the Bank of Colorado since 2013 and we greatly appreciate its impact of Durango 9-R classrooms!

 

FEATURED AWARD WINNERS

2024 Innovation Award Winner:

Empowering Learning, Enriching Future: Smart Boards for Bright Minds!


Amanda Cricco and the reading intervention team at Durango's Park Elementary, began making unprecedented strides in student academic growth through a reading intervention resource called SIPPS (Sytematic Instruction in Phonological awareness, Phonics, and Sight words).  In order to continue the progress, Amanda and her team needed smartboards that would help track and support indivudal student progress.

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WHAT'S DIFFERENT ABOUT...

Animas Valley Elementary School and Kelly Von Stroh received the award for the program, "What's Different About Teaching Reading to English Language Learners." Throughout the year, Kelly brought this program to 75 teachers, who in turn delivered it to others at their schools. In all, we estimate that more than 2000 students were touched by this method in one year alone.

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The Bank of Colorado funded this incredibly impactful program. Of the program's success, Amanda says, "I would like to highlight one of our third grade groups that has been using SIPPS the longest (since October). The third grade level fluency expectation is to read 114 words per minute.  At the beginning of this year, one of our students read just 8 words per minute. By March 11th of the same year, this same student read 90 words per minute. This growth is a mind blowing 1025% increase in fluency speed. "

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SCIENCE LAB

In 2013, the inaugural award was given to Riverview Elementary School, for their innovative all-school science lab. Every child at Riverview does an intensive 6-week study in the lab, learning about everything from indigenous species to weighing matter with liquid displacement.

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