November 20, 2009 - Austin’s Linder Elementary School has been nominated for the prestigious Blue Ribbon Award for 2010, Texas Education Commissioner Robert Scott announced today. The school is the only Central Texas school to be nominated, and among only 26 statewide.

The nominated schools were recommended by a TEA intra–agency committee that examined student achievement statistics for the more than 8,000 public school and charter campuses in the state. The schools selected have demonstrated success in closing the achievement gap, and each school has an economically disadvantaged population of 40 percent or greater.  
 
Linder’s principal is Beverly Odom. There are 843 students enrolled there, with 95 percent considered economically disadvantaged and 60 percent, English Language Learners.  
 
Blue Ribbon-nominated schools are selected based on one of two criteria — schools that dramatically improve student performance to high levels on state tests; or schools whose students achieve in the top 10 percent of their state on state tests. Linder was nominated in the program’s Dramatic Improvement category.  
 
For the past 27 years, the Blue Ribbon Award program has honored more than 5,800 of America's most successful schools. The Blue Ribbon Schools Program honors public and private elementary, middle, and high schools.  
 
The nominated schools will now complete a rigorous application process through the U.S. Department of Education. Announcements of the award winners will be made in September 2010.  
 
Linder, and other Texas’ Blue Ribbon nominees, will be honored on January 25, 2010, at the Texas Association of School Administrators Mid-Winter Conference.