The 37,000-student Mesquite Independent School District, located in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area, has won the 2011 Award for Urban School Board Excellence from the Council of Urban Boards of Education.
The organization, a subgroup of the National School Boards Association, represents boards in 110 urban districts. Mesquite is the third district from Texas to receive the honor, which was first presented in 2004.
Mesquite was honored for its work in improving student test scores in all subject areas. CUBE noted that 84 percent of students in the district tested proficient in math in 2010 on state standardized tests, up from 67 percent in 2004. Also, the percent of students proficient in science grew from 52 percent in 2004 to 82 percent in 2010.
Reading test scores rose from 82 percent to 91 percent proficient during the same time period, while social studies scores went from 86 percent to 95 percent passing.
Previous winners including Baltimore, Atlanta, Brownsville ISD in Texas, and Houston ISD.