Gwinnett County, Ga., Wins $1M Broad Prize

Gwinnett County Public Schools Associate Superintendent for Teaching and Learning Support Dale Robbins, front left, Celeste Strohl, front center, and Carol Grady, right, celebrate at the Instructional Support Center in Suwanee, Ga., as the 2010 Broad Prize is announced on Oct. 19. Gwinnett County won the $1 million prize.

—Jason Braverman/Gwinnett Daily Post/AP

By Erik W. Robelen

The Gwinnett County, Ga., school district , located just outside Atlanta, has been awarded the prestigious Broad Prize for Urban Education for 2010. The annual award, announced today, honors large urban school systems that demonstrate the strongest student achievement and improvement while narrowing performance gaps between different groups based on family income and ethnicity.

The 161,000-student district, led since 1996 by J. Alvin Wilbanks, will receive $1 million in college-scholarship money for students graduating in 2011. Gwinnett County was also a finalist for the award last year. The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation , in Los Angeles, established the program in 2002.

The four other finalists this year are the Charlotte-Mecklenburg district in North Carolina, the Montgomery County, Md., public schools, and the Socorro and Ysleta districts in Texas. Each of those districts will receive...