CARY - An innovative effort to raise the achievement levels of low-income students made Kingswood Elementary School in Cary one of only two schools in the state to get honored as a 2010 National Title I Distinguished School.

"Teaching is not the most important thing, learning is," said Kingswood principal Sherry Schliesser, who accepted the award on behalf of her school last week in Tampa, Fla.

A picture of Schliesser and staff on stage with the distinguished school banner adorned the school's reception desk just days later.

Under the federal government's Title I school program, schools with large concentrations of low-income students receive supplemental federal funds to assist in meeting educational goals.

Since 1996, the National Title I Association has honored schools across the country for their innovation in helping these student populations achieve high educational standards. The other N.C. school to get the nod this year was Laurel Hill Elementary in Scotland County.

For a school to qualify for Title I status, at least 35 percent of students must be enrolled in the free and reduced lunch program for families just above the poverty line.

More than half of Kingswood's 382 students fit that description.

School staff is trying to minimize the negative effects of income disadvantages on the students' learning process.

Schliesser and assistant principal Kris Case said Kingswood's students are learning more than ever.

They attribute the school's success to screening that identifies slow learners early in the school year, and an aggressive, creative academic program where teachers, and even fellow students, help to make sure nobody falls behind.

Kingswood's teachers have created academic success by breaking students into smaller groups and spending extra time with those who need more help.

"If a teacher needs to help a student who's struggling, another teacher will cover the rest of her class," said Kim Zeugner, a math coach partially salaried by the Title I program. "We help each other all the time."

In teacher Casey Byrne's fifth-grade class last week, she engaged three students in a discussion about a reading assignment while several other small groups of students completed exercises on laptop computers.

Students weren't just sitting in desks listening but engaging in the lessons.

"Less teacher talk, more student involvement," Case said. "We're real big on that."

And helping hands have led to higher test scores.

"It's hard to argue with data," Case said, showing charts and tables to illustrate how performance rose steadily from 2006 to the current year.

Much of the demonstrable success at Kingswood is seen in students' end-of-grade test results. The National Title I Association took notice and invited Kingswood to compete for distinguished school status.

Schliesser and Case applied and a Title I representative visited the school in November to judge its progress.

In addition to the academic programs, an incentivized behavior program - which includes giving students tickets for good deeds that are redeemable for an extra recess period or a chance to paint on the school's walls - has drastically reduced misbehavior that detracts from learning.

"We had more than 60 suspensions last year," Case said, "and less than 10 so far this year."

"Whatever it takes for each student to grow every day, that's our goal," Schliesser said.

She added that it's difficult to maintain these trends year to year because Kingswood's student population is so transient. "We replace about one third of our students each year," Schliesser said.

The neighborhood school serves many families living in higher-density rental properties, including subsidized housing.

"There's the side of Cary where all the new buildings are going up," Case said. "We're the other side."

All the sweeter is the national recognition. The school gets to bring home a banner and will receive a $10,000 check in October.

"We're not sure yet how we'll spend that," Schliesser said, "but it will be for the kids."