Fifty.

The CAPE review panel will narrow the field to 50 by eliminating applications not in compliance with the requirements of the program (including submission deadlines and other technical requirements) and by evaluating the quality and responsiveness of the essay questions. Download the scoring guidelines (PDF) that reviewers will use for the program. CAPE will give preference to schools that applied in previous cycles of the BRS program but were unsuccessful because of technical (as opposed to substantive) violations.* Preference will be given to schools that did not win the award in the years 2007-2017 (schools that won after those years are not eligible to apply). Finally, efforts may be made to avoid an excessive concentration of schools from the same state. After that, all applications of eligible schools that meet the requirements of the program and that provide exemplary responses to the essay questions will be pooled, and nominated schools will be selected randomly.

*To receive this preferential treatment, schools that fall in this category should attach a note to the draft application submitted in December to let CAPE know that the application is a second try. The note should indicate the year and violation of the initial application.

Schools must have an enrollment of 100 or more students. Also, it must have at least 10 tested students in each grade for which test scores are reported (which should be each grade in which tests are administered from grade 3 up).

Schools located on the same campus (physical location and mailing address) must apply as an entire school (i.e. K-8; 6-12; K-12 school). Two (or more) schools located on separate campuses, must apply individually even if they have the same principal. A single school located on multiple campuses with one principal must apply as an entire school.

No. Only schools that have not received the award in the past five years are eligible for the program. Note that priority in the selection process will be given to private schools that did not win the award in the last 15 years. 

A nominated school must be in existence with its current grade configuration for at least five full years. Merged schools are considered new schools for purposes of this rule.

No. Only not-for-profit schools may apply.

Depending on how they qualify for the program, schools must include the following information with the hardcopy of the application that is due at CAPE in December:

EXEMPLARY HIGH PERFORMING SCHOOLS AND EXEMPLARY ACHIEVEMENT GAP CLOSING SCHOOLS:  Beginning with the 2025 award cycle, schools must submit their assessment data in the pre-registration process. The point of the assessment verification document(s) is to verify the accuracy of the scores the school has reported for the most recently completed school year, so the scores on the online application and the assessment verification document(s) should match. Many schools are disqualified from the program either because they do not submit an assessment verification sheet, or they report the wrong kinds of scores (e.g., school percentiles instead of student percentiles), or the scores in the tables do not match the assessment verification scores. Please contact CAPE if you have questions about this. High schools using SAT and

ACT scores from multiple testing dates (see whatever #21 has become with re-numbering, below) should contact CAPE regarding assessment verification.

It’s different for each testing company, but here is guidance for the most popular K-8 tests. You can report scores as scale scores OR as percentiles, but not both. You must report scores consistently across all grades. Note, however, that if you have to disaggregate scores for subgroups (see guidelines here), you should report all scores as scale scores.

IOWA ASSESSMENTS (ITBS FORM E)

If Reporting Scale Scores: On the testing company’s summary report for the grade in question, look at the row marked “Average Standard Score (SS)” (sometimes listed as “Average NSS”) and go to the columns marked “Reading” and “Mathematics.”   Report these scores for all grades tested (3 and higher).  To see if your school qualifies for the program, take these scores for each grade tested in the most recently completed school year and compare them to the cut scores found for the appropriate grade and subject under the table marked “School Mean Scale Score at 85th Percentile of National School Norms” on the ITBS page of the Education Department’s cut scores document.  BE SURE TO USE THE HIGHER FORM E SCORES WHERE APPLICABLE. Note that there are two different score columns for fall and spring administrations of the test. Use the column that applies to your school.

If Reporting Percentiles: On the testing company’s summary report for the grade in question, look at the row marked “National Percentile Rank of Average SS” (sometimes listed as NPR of Average NSS) and go to the columns marked “Reading” and “Mathematics.”   Report these scores for all grades tested (3 and higher).  To see if your school qualifies for the program, take these scores for each grade tested in the most recently completed school year and compare them to the cut scores found for the appropriate grade and subject under the table marked “Student Percentile Equivalent for the 85th School Percentile” on the ITBS page of the Education Department’s cut scores document.  BE SURE TO USE THE HIGHER FORM E SCORES WHERE APPLICABLE. Note that there are two different score columns for fall and spring administrations of the test. Use the column that applies to your school.

TERRA NOVA 3 

If Reporting Scale Scores: On the testing company’s summary report for the grade in question, look at the row marked “Mean Scale Score” and go to the columns marked “Read” and “Math” (not “Read Compst” and “Math Compst”). Report these scores for all grades tested (3 and higher).  (Note: In some reports the columns and rows are switched, in which case you would use the column marked “MSS” and the rows marked “Reading” and “Mathematics.”) To see if your school qualifies for the program, take these scores for each grade tested in the most recently completed school year and compare them to the cut scores found for the appropriate grade and subject under the table marked “School Mean Scale Score at 85th Percentile of National School Norms” on the Terra Nova 3 page of the Education Department’s cut scores document.  Note that the Terra Nova 3 table reports separate scores for spring and fall administrations of the test. Use the scores that apply to your school.

If Reporting Percentiles: On the testing company’s summary report for the grade in question, look at the row marked “NP of the Mean NCE” and go to the columns marked “Read” and “Math” (not “Read Compst” and “Math Compst”). Report these scores for all grades tested (3 and higher).  (Note: In some reports the columns and rows are switched, in which case you would use the column marked “MDNP” and the rows marked “Reading” and “Mathematics.”) To see if your school qualifies for the program, take these scores for each grade tested in the most recently completed school year and compare them to the cut scores found for the appropriate grade and subject under the table marked “Student Percentile Equivalent for the 85th School Percentile” on the Terra Nova 3 page of the Education Department’s cut scores document. Note that the Terra Nova 3 table reports separate scores for spring and fall administrations of the test. Use the scores that apply to your school.

STANFORD ACHIEVEMENT TEST

Special Note: Schools using the SAT should be sure to read the special note on page 1 of the cut scores document prepared by the U.S. Department of Education.

If Reporting Scale Scores: On the testing company’s summary report for the grade in question, look at the row marked “Mean Scale Score” and go to the columns marked “Total Reading” and “Total Mathematics.” Report these scores for all grades tested (3 and higher). To see if your school qualifies for the program, take these scores for each grade tested in the most recently completed school year and compare them to the cut scores found for the appropriate grade and subject under the table marked “School Mean Scale Score at 85th Percentile of National School Norms” on the SAT page of the Education Department’s cut scores document.  Note that there are different SAT pages reflecting different SAT editions.

If Reporting Percentiles: On the testing company’s summary report for the grade in question, look at the rows marked “National PR-S of the Mean National NCE and to the the columns marked “Total Reading” and “Total Mathematics.”  Note that the PR-S row gives two scores, the percentile and the stanine, separated by a dash. The first two digits are the percentile. Only use that score. Report these scores for all grades tested (3 and higher). To see if your school qualifies for the program, take the scores for each grade tested in the most recently completed school year and compare them to the cut scores found for the appropriate grade and subject under the table marked “Student Percentile Equivalent for the 85th School Percentile” on the SAT page of the Education Department’s cut scores document.  Note that there are two different SAT pages reflecting different SAT editions.

Yes

If a school administers state tests and national normed tests, the school must report ONLY the nationally normed test. Beginning with the 2025 award cycle, CAPE is no longer utilizing state test scores, only nationally normed tests.

We’re sorry, but at this point there is not. If a school wishes to qualify under the “top 15 percent in the nation” category, it must use a test whose publisher has provided the U.S. Department of Education with qualifying cutoff scores.

The school must disaggregate the data for the following groups of students only if the subgroup represents at least 10 percent of the school’s total enrollment in the current school year:

1. students eligible for free or reduced-priced meals,
2. any minority (non-white) ethnic/racial group,
3. limited English proficient students,
4. students with disabilities.

In the application itself, refer to Part II, Demographic Data items 4, 6, 7, and 8 for the percentages of total current enrollment of potential subgroups.

Important Note: If indeed the school meets the 10 percent standard described above, it then only needs to report assessment results for subgroups if there are at least 10 tested students in the subgroup in a given grade. If the number of students assessed in any subgroup is fewer than 10, do not report the test results or the number of students assessed for the subgroup.

With respect to meal-eligible students, the school must disaggregate the data (assuming the conditions above apply) whether or not the school actually offers the federal school meal program.

Disaggregated results for student groups must be similar to the levels of all students tested. At a minimum, student subgroups must be at the 60th student percentile or higher on nationally standardized tests or state tests if administered.

Note that you cannot average percentiles when calculating disaggregated scores. You can average scale scores, however. Accordingly, if you have to disaggregate scores, you should report all scores for all grades as scale scores so that your score reporting is consistent. Also, you must provide evidence from the testing company and/or the state that disaggregated scale scores are at the 60th student percentile or higher. It gets complicated, so you might want to contact CAPE on this point.

SPECIAL NOTE: There has been lingering confusion regarding disaggregation. When a school reports test scores for an entire grade and measures those scores against the cut scores for the program, the expectation is that those scores reflect the performance of ALL students in the grade. If schools are required to report disaggregated results for certain groups because they meet the conditions described above, those groups and their results are not then removed from the scores for the entire grade. In effect, the results for those groups are reported twice: once as part of the entire grade and once as a disaggregated group.

An alternative assessment is an assessment designed for the small number of students with disabilities who are unable to participate in the regular grade-level standardized assessment, even with appropriate accommodations.  An alternative assessment can measure progress based on alternate achievement standards.  The term does not refer to adjustments in the administration of a standardized test in order to accommodate student needs.  Note that an explanation must be provided if the percentage of students alternatively assessed is greater than two (2) percent of all students tested.

No. The only scores that count are those reported by the testing company. The school may not make adjustments to these scores.

No. Schools may use aggregate scores to qualify. However, each student group for whom there are disaggregated data must achieve at levels similar to the majority students; at a minimum, student subgroups must be at the 60th student percentile or higher on nationally standardized tests or state tests if administered.

No. High schools may only use scores for tenth grade or higher to qualify.

If 90 percent or more of students from the most recent graduating class took the SATs, but not the ACTs, use the SATs to qualify for the program. If 90 percent or more of students from the most recent graduating class took the ACTs, but not the SATs, use the ACTs to qualify for the program. If 90 percent or more of students took some combination of the SATs and ACTs (e.g., 50 percent take SATs and 40 percent take ACTs) use both tests to quality for the program. If fewer than 90 percent take the tests, the results cannot be reported. The school has the responsibility to demonstrate that, in the aggregate, the students in a school achieve in the top 15 percent of the nation on these tests and that any disaggregated results (if required) for student groups are at the 60th student percentile or higher.

Yes, but contact CAPE on how to provide assessment verification.

No.

Yes.

Yes.