CHOCOWINITY—A local primary school has been picked as a finalist for an award based on high performance in End-of-Grade testing.

Chocowinity Primary School, being in the top 10 percent of Title 1 schools for high performance, submitted an application for the National Title 1 Distinguished Schools program, which recognizes exemplary Title 1 schools that hold students to high standards and demonstrate exemplary school effectiveness in: teaching and learning based on the approved state curriculum; use of research-based instructional strategies; opportunities provided for all students to achieve; established partnerships with parents, families and the community; implementation of sustained research-based professional development; and innovation and modeling for other schools, according to the North Carolina State Board of Education website.

According to the website, the schools in the Sustained Achievement category — the same as CPS is in — are recognized for showing a high (at least 80 percent) level of student proficiency in reading and mathematics and making Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) for the most recent two years.

CPS Principal Alicia Vosburgh said the school being selected was, in part, due to 75 percent of its students receiving free and reduced lunch. The school’s poverty level makes it a Title I school, which qualifies the school and its programs for federal funds, as well as being a finalist for the award. The award includes a monetary sum that can be used in the school to continue existing program, as well as starting new programs, Vosburgh said.

“That money would go toward student needs, to continue what we’re doing and if there’s other things we need to do,” Vosburgh said. “We’re constantly identifying needs and meeting needs.”

The school has a number of interventions in place to make sure students are staying current on where they are expected to be as far as reading and other studies go, Vosburgh said. Not only does the school have three reading specialists, two of which teach reading recovery and all three work with small groups of students at a time, but it also has intense reading interventions in place to ensure results come testing time, including its Hill Center, Vosburgh said. The Hill Center offers aid to students who have specific learning differences.

On Nov. 21, at 9 a.m., representatives from the Title 1 Distinguished Schools Award will visit the school and interview Vosburgh, as well as representatives from the school’s SIT (School Improvement Team). The team is made up of the school’s stakeholder groups, including parents, teachers, teacher assistants and others, that all have a say in how money is spent for the school’s programs and activities. The representatives will also tour the school and take a look at some of the interventions the school has implemented, Vosburgh said.

“It’s an honor,” Vosburgh said. “Our teachers and students and parents work really hard to make CPS what it is. It is a place where the staff want it to be a choice that people want in Beaufort County. When you walk in, you can tell it’s a community. The staff has very high expectations for the students, and you don’t just talk it, you walk it.”