NIFDI sends congratulations to Bancroft-Rosalie School, in Bancroft, Nebraska, for their 2015 Blue Ribbon School Recognition as an Exemplary High Performing School by the US Department of Education (USDOE). Additional congratulations to Superintendent/Principal Dr. Jon Cerny, 2015 recipient of the Terrell Bell Award for Outstanding Leadership.

Bancroft-Rosalie school has been utilizing Reading Mastery, Connecting Math Concepts and Spelling Mastery as their Core Academic curriculum for over 9 years. They began their implementation by partnering with NIFDI for implementation assistance. Over a five year period of training and support provided by NIFDI, internal capacity was developed and they now have had a self-sustained DI implementation for 4 years. Dr. Cerny credits the strong foundation built in the early years, coupled with consistency in personnel and keeping a strong team together as major ingredients in the success their students experience. He notes that, "...the DI curriculum allows us to accelerate our students, both the ones that are behind and the ones that are ready to move faster."

Dr. Cerny has been with the district for 23 years and is a strong instructional leader. He speaks proudly of the success his teachers and students are experiencing through DI. The USDOE website states, "[Recipients of the Terrell H. Bell Award] are principals who do whatever it takes to help their students meet high standards and are committed to the notion that in educating America's children, failure is no option." Only a handful of principals, nominated by their school staff, are selected for recognition each year.

Please join us in wishing this model school ongoing success!