March 10, 2025
[ANGOLA, IN] – Education One at Trine University is honored to announce its nomination for two prestigious awards from the National Charter Schools Institute’s A-GAME initiative. Recognized for its commitment to data-driven decision-making and impactful implementation, Education One has been named a finalist for the “Implementation Excellence Award” and the “Data-Driven Excellence Award.”
A-GAME (Advancing Great Authorizing & Modeling Excellence) is a nationally recognized initiative dedicated to rethinking charter school accountability by promoting innovative, responsive, and student-centered approaches. Through collaboration with authorizers across the country, A-GAME helps shape effective accountability measures that go beyond standardized test scores to support student growth and school success holistically. Nominees are evaluated by a panel of A-GAME leaders and stakeholders based on several key criteria, including impact, innovation, and alignment with A-GAME’s values. Judges assess how nominees have contributed to redefining school quality and their use of creative approaches to drive change.
The “Implementation Excellence Award” celebrates a charter school or authorizer that has demonstrated outstanding efficiency and commitment in implementing responsive goals, asset mapping, or indicators of distress—turning ideas into action with measurable results. Education One’s use of Liberatory Design to ensure that stakeholder input is heard and actively informs the processes and tools used to measure school success was one reason for their selection. Their work on improving measuring tools while maintaining high expectations has gained recognition during national conference convenings.
The “Data-Driven Excellence Award” recognizes organizations that effectively leverage data to guide decision-making, track progress beyond state assessments, and refine responsive goals to ensure continuous improvement and proactive intervention. Nominees are assessed on their alignment with A-GAME values, particularly in their approach to responsive goals, asset mapping, and indicators of distress. A-GAME recognized the strenuous work Education One has done to revamp their accountability framework, incorporating multiple measures and engaging key stakeholders in defining school quality. Their differentiated frameworks assess meaningful progress, particularly new schools using a stair-stepping approach to demonstrate their trajectory toward meeting high standards within five years.
“We are thrilled to be recognized by A-GAME for our dedication to fostering innovative accountability practices in charter school oversight,” said Lindsay Omlor, Executive Director of Charter Schools. Emily Gaskill, Director of Accountability, agreed, noting, “These nominations affirm our commitment to utilizing data-driven strategies and responsive goal-setting to ensure charter schools have the support and accountability they need to thrive.”
The winners of the A-GAME Awards will be announced at the A-GAME Convening in May.
To learn more about Education One and its work in charter school authorizing, please visit: https://www.trine.edu/education-one/
Trine University Theatre will present a free matinee of “The Somewhat True Tale of Robin Hood” to local school groups and homeschool students grades K-5 in the Ryan Concert Hall of the T. Furth Center for Performing Arts beginning at noon on April 3.
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