Crystal Star Awards – Criteria for Individual Award

A panel of judges will review each nomination for the Crystal Star Awards of Excellence in Dropout Recovery, Intervention and Prevention. Each nomination must have the support of three people. The nomination packet consists of the nomination form, e-mail messages from the two people supporting the nomination, along with a narrative highlighting at least three examples of the nominee’s exemplary practices from the criteria below. Please use the phrase describing the criteria chosen as the header for that section. The ideal candidate for a Crystal Star Award performs his/her job in an exemplary manner, provides strong leadership in dropout prevention efforts, and:

1. establishes a continuing process of evaluating goals and objectives to provide an organizational structure that allows each school to develop a learning environment which ensures quality education for all students
2. works effectively with all groups in the community to create a caring and supportive environment where youth can thrive and achieve
3. works effectively to create a safe environment for learning
4. works to develop and initiate family engagement
5. promotes early childhood education
6. works to develop, promote, and implement literacy
7. works to develop and implement mentoring and tutoring programs
8. works effectively with at-risk students, teachers, administrators, parents, and the community to involve students in service-learning activities
9. works to develop and implement alternative learning environments for at-risk students
10. promotes after-school opportunities to expand the knowledge base of at-risk students
11. promotes and implements professional development programs focused on issues related to teaching and working with at-risk students
12. works to develop and initiate active learning methods of instruction to help at-risk students find new and creative ways to solve problems, achieve success, and become lifelong learners
13. works effectively to integrate technology into the curriculum and also to provide enrichment opportunities for students
14. works to develop and initiate an individualized learning plan for at-risk students
15. establishes career and technology programs that recognize that youth need specific skills to prepare them to measure up to the larger demands of today’s workplace