STRONG — Two SAD 58 educators will travel across the country next month to accept national recognition from their peers for academic excellence and community support at Strong Elementary School.

Rachelle Tome, Title 1 director for the Maine Department of Education, said she reviewed data from testing over several years, with particular attention to the most recent scores she received this past spring. She also looks for a range of other factors which make schools on her final list worthy of the Title 1 “Distinguished School” title.

“Based on their averages of reading and math test scores, Strong (Elementary) School is one of the highest in the state,” she said. “They’ll be recognized for their consistent high performance in January.”

Community involvement is a primary component, Tome said, and not every school has the level of community support that moves them up through the list of high-performing schools’ finalists.

“They are consistently doing whatever it takes to ensure that every child is achieving success,” Tome said.

Title I of the country’s Elementary and Secondary Education Act provides funding to local educational agencies and schools with high percentages of children from economically challenged families to help ensure that all children meet academic standards. Federal funds currently are distributed through formulas based primarily on census data, including the cost of education in each state. Felecia Pease, Strong Elementary School’s principal, and Sandra Schniepp, the District’s Title 1 administrator, recently received notification from the state’s Department of Education that, even with a high percentage of low-income students, academic achievement was superior to most other schools in the state.

The entire staff and the community should be acknowledged, Pease said. Many area residents volunteer time in the local schools. Many of them have spent a lifetime teaching and are now retired, but many others come to help with building playgrounds or special events.

“Everyone volunteers to do what they can to the best of their abilities,” she said.

Pease said she and the district’s Title 1 administrator, Sandra Schniepp, will represent the state; Tome’s department will fund costs for the January conference in Seattle.