The Tupelo Public School District was recently notified that Pierce Street Elementary School and Rankin Elementary School have earned the PREPS Value Added Award for successful performance on the spring, 2006 statewide tests. The awards will be presented today (February 16th) to representatives of the schools at the 2007 PREPS Winter Conference in Meridian, Mississippi. The PREPS Value Added analysis began in June, 1997 and allows for comparisons of educational performance, taking into account (or holding constant) the impact of differences in socioeconomic background of the students considered in the research. The model is used to identify high performing schools among Mississippi districts. Schools which are “adding value” are those who are considering to be performing higher than the statistical model predicted that they would perform based on their students’ socioeconomic circumstances. Only 82 schools from across the entire state of Mississippi were designated as “value-added schools,” and the Tupelo Public School District produced two of those schools, Pierce Street Elementary and Rankin Elementary. Congratulations to the students and staffs of Pierce Street Elementary and Rankin Elementary Schools for your excellent test scores and performance on the 2006 statewide tests! The TPSD appreciates your hard work and commends you for earning the 2007 PREPS Value Added Award.