Georgia’s Superintendent of Schools Richard Woods visited Frank Long Elementary on September 21, with a recognition for the school.

Woods and Principal Debra Sukaratana unfurled a banner in front the school’s fourth graders declaring the school as a Literacy Leader for its gains last year on the Georgia Milestones testing.

“Of 2,300 schools in the state of Georgia, there are fewer than 200 schools that are getting one of these banners this year,” Woods told the assembly.

In fact, only 155 schools were named Literacy Leaders. Schools could earn the recognition by having 90% or more of third-graders reading at grade level or above, or by having at least a 15% increase in the number of students reading at or above grade level.

Frank Long Elementary’s third graders last year registered a 17% gain in the number of students reading at or above grade level.

“I want to say congratulations to our third grade teachers, but this a team effort,” he said. “But it doesn’t stop here.”

Woods pointed out the banner has room for ribbons across the bottom, in case other grade levels achieve the distinction. The state will be adding a math banner next year to reward similar achievement in Georgia Milestones math scores.

Woods and his staff also delivered to each of Frank Long’s fourth graders a pocket U.S. Constitution, along with the Declaration of Independence, the Star-Spangled Banner and a copy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. Woods noted that not every fourth grader in the state gets one of those pocket books.