Four finalists for the 2013 Broad Prize in Urban Education were named last week. They are the Corona-Norco and San Diego school districts in California, the Houston Independent School District, and the school system in Cumberland County, N.C.
San Diego, the second largest district in California with 132,000 students, and the 53,000-student Cumberland County district, are newcomers to the finalist round for the annual prize. Corona-Norco, a 53,000-student district in Southern California, was a finalist in 2012, as was Houston, which won the first prize in 2002.
The four finalists were selected from a pool of 75 of the largest urban districts in the nation because of academic gains they have demonstrated for Hispanic, African-American, and poor students, according to a press release from the Los Angeles-based Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation, which sponsors the prize.
The winner will be announced Sept. 25 in Washington and will win $550,000 in college scholarships for its students. The three finalists each will receive $150,000 in scholarship money.
Over the next few months, researchers will gather qualitative data on each district and present them to a selection jury, which will choose the winner. The school system in Miami-Dade County, Fla., won last year.
