Steamboat Springs — Steamboat Springs Middle School was named one of five Colorado Trailblazer Schools to Watch on Monday by the Colorado Association of Middle Level Education.

When Principal Tim Bishop was sharing the news with students Tuesday, one student asked if the school now would compete with the rest of the world. It made Bishop laugh, and he said the middle school always competes and always wants to be the best.

But the question also made him think.

“We all know there’s many more things we can work on and need to work on,” Bishop said. “That’s the cool part about our staff. They said, ‘We still have a lot to work on.’ That sense of humility … that sense of ‘we’re not satisfied’ is what I love.”

Bishop said a committee visited the school Feb. 18, the day before Blues Break and not one he would have chosen. But he said there was such a sense of pride that day when the committee visited every classroom and spoke with students, parents, faculty and staff members.

Schools to Watch Coordinator Diane Lauer said the middle school was one of 14 honored since the Colorado Association of Middle School Education, an affiliate of the National Middle School Association, began honoring schools in 2004.

For being named a school to watch, Bishop and other school officials have been invited to the National Schools to Watch Conference in June in Washington, D.C., as one of an expected 300 schools nationally to receive the distinction. Being named a school to watch makes the middle school a model for other schools across the country, Lauer said.

She said a couple of aspects above the middle school stood out.

“If you compare Steamboat Springs to other schools, they have very high student

achievement and they have very high growth,” Lauer said. “The teachers and staff at Steamboat are doing the work so students are achieving more and more every year. This is atypical of the state trend and national trend.”

She said that the school’s positive environment, its use of data to create programming, the resources it provides to students who need support or are excelling, and its strong leadership all contributed to its being named a school to watch.

Eighth-grader Bella Brane said it was cool to hear the middle school was honored.

“I was excited to hear that because I know our school tried really hard to get it,” she said. “It gives us a reputation.”

Assistant Principal Jerry Buelter said he thought being named a school to watch validated all the hard work the faculty and staff have put in during the years.

“Certainly, it’s nice to be recognized,” resource teacher Kathy Rosemond said. “It’s a group effort. It’s the community. It’s the students. It’s the parents. It’s the teachers. We’re fortunate to live and work in a small community where there’s a high standard and high value of education.”

— To reach Jack Weinstein, call 970-871-4203 or e-mail jweinstein@SteamboatToday.com