Frank Reliford, the Principal at Dee-Mack Intermediate since 2005, is familiar to almost every child in the community. 260 Students attend Reliford's school, and their status is a point of pride: Dee-Mack Intermediate is consistently one of the highest performing schools in the state. The change in student performance correlates to the introduction of NWEA's Measures of Academic Progress® (MAP®) assessments at the school. The way they chose to use their assessment data has made all the difference. Reliford's solution was a new mandate for differentiated instruction throughout the school. He recognized that MAP data could be used to identify learning levels and guide instruction for high achievers--just as they had done with struggling Dee-Mack students. The Illinois State Board of Education recognized these accomplishments by awarding Dee-Mack Intermediate the Academic Excellence Award, an honor given to schools that have 90% or more of their students meeting or exceeding math and reading proficiency standards over three consecutive years.