Liberty Bell High School has been recognized for the fourth year in a row for overall excellence, an award bestowed by the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction and the state Board of Education. One of the Washington Achievement Awards, overall excellence honors the top 5 percent of elementary, junior high and high schools, based on three years of data. Liberty Bell was one of 100 schools statewide to be cited for overall excellence.
The award is intended to commend school districts that do not have a large gap in the achievements of low-income and non-low-income students. Scoring is based on subjects including reading, writing, math and science. It also looks at improvement from one year to the next.
Liberty Bell was the only school in Okanogan County to get the overall excellence award. Omak was honored for “high progress” and received special recognition for improvement in the five-year graduation rate. Okanogan and Brewster high schools also received the high progress award. Pateros Elementary School received special recognition in math, and Bridgeport School District got special recognition in reading growth.