All four District 15 Junior High Schools received national recognition as a 2021-22 Project Lead The Way (PLTW) Distinguished School!

Our four junior highs are among just 134 middle schools across the U.S. to receive this honor. The PLTW Distinguished School designation recognizes schools committed to increasing student access, engagement, and achievement in their PLTW programs.

Each PLTW Gateway program engages students in middle school STEM curriculum that not only builds knowledge and skills in areas including computer science, engineering, and biomedical science, but also empowers students to develop essential skills such as problem solving, critical and creative thinking, communication, collaboration, and perseverance.

To be eligible for the designation, each school had to meet the following criteria: 

• Have more than 50 percent of the student body participate in a PLTW Gateway unit during the 2020-21 school year;  
  
  
• Have at least 25 percent of students who participated in a PLTW Gateway unity during the 2020-21 school year also participate in at least one other PLTW Gateway unity (two or more units total) during their tenure at the school;
  
  
• Offer at least one PLTW Gateway unit at each grade (6-8);  
  
  
• Have strategies and supports in place that assist reasonably proportional representation with regard to race, ethnicity, poverty, and gender and can support such claims with relevant data. 

We are so proud of our junior high schools for being a part of a community of PreK-12 schools, colleges and universities, and corporate and philanthropic partners across the country united around a passion for providing students with inspiring, engaging, and empowering learning opportunities. For more information about PLTW’s recognition program, visit pltw.org/our-programs/program-recognition.

5/2022