WASHINGTON, DC — Today, Feb. 17, during its Digital Learning Day Live event, the Alliance for Excellent Education, a Washington, D.C. non-profit, will announce that Indiana’s Warsaw Community Schools is one of three recipients of its Excellence and Innovation in Secondary Schools award.

Created by the Alliance for Excellent Education in 2012, Digital Learning Day (#DLDay) is a nationwide celebration that highlights great teaching and demonstrates how technology can improve student outcomes.

“From small, rural towns to large, urban cities, Digital Learning Day will spotlight educators, policymakers, and others who are leading the charge to close the digital divide in their communities,” said Bob Wise, president of the Alliance for Excellent Education and former governor of West Virginia. “After a national search for schools and school districts that are making a difference for students in socioeconomically disadvantaged and traditionally underserved communities, WCS’s exemplary career and technical education and dual enrollment programs emerged as a national leader and a great role model for districts nationwide.”

“Warsaw Community Schools is honored to be recognized as the Alliance’s recipient of the Excellence and Innovation in Secondary Schools award,” said Dr. David Hoffert, superintendent of WCS. “Warsaw Community High School and the Warsaw Area Career Center have become leaders at the state and national level in preparing students for college and career readiness. Our teachers, parents, students and community industry have partnered to shape a curriculum preparing students for their future dreams. This honor is a recognition of the continued work and commitment as WCS moves forward in our mission: To inspire and equip all students to continuously acquire and apply knowledge and skill while pursuing their dreams and enriching the lives of others.”

The local needs of the community, including the orthopedic, medical and agricultural industries, have propelled Warsaw to create innovative visions for inspiring dreams and enriching the community through technology and a focus on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education. Together, Warsaw Community Schools and the Warsaw Area Career Center are engaging students in deeper, more impactful learning through a hands-on approach. Over the past five years, the district has added over seventy-five new classes to its career center and high school curricula, encouraging students to explore a wide range of fields.

Warsaw also has the fifth largest dual credit program in the state of Indiana, in which high school students can simultaneously earn high school and college credit for a single class. Teachers are encouraged to teach a college-level course, which has led to more than 75 percent of high school teachers having experience teaching a dual enrollment course. During the 2014-15 school year, Warsaw students earned AP and dual enrollment credits worth over $1 million. With its dual enrollment and career and technical education programs, the district has made great strides to push students towards college and career readiness.

WCS was selected after a rigorous review process that included more than five dozen schools and districts. The two other winners of the award were Cleveland’s MC2 STEM High School and Santa Anna Unified School District in California.