For the second year in a row, the Ysleta Independent School District was named as a finalist for the Broad Prize in April 2011. The Broad Prize is awarded by The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation, a national education philanthropy, and honors urban school districts that demonstrate the greatest overall performance and improvement in student achievement while reducing income and ethnic achievement gaps.

YISD was the only district in Texas and one of only four in the nation to be a 2011 Broad Prize Finalist. In May 2011, the district held a news conference with Broad Foundation officials to announce that the district was again a finalist and also to award the winners of the Broad Prize scholarships, which the district earned for being a 2010 Broad Prize finalist.

In 2010, YISD received $260,000 in scholarships for 13 graduating high school seniors from the Class of 2011. For being a Broad finalist in 2011, the district will receive $150,000 for seniors graduating in the Class of 2012.

In May 2011, Broad Foundation officials and national educational experts toured Ysleta schools to gather information about why Ysleta students continued to outpace their peers in other similar districts around the country.

Then in September 2011, Superintendent Michael Zolkoski and YISD board trustees attended the Broad Prize announcement in Washington D.C., which was announced by U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. At the announcement event, YISD was recognized nationally as one of four districts in the running for the top educational prize in the U.S. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools in North Carolina was named the 2011 winner.

The national recognition from the Broad Foundation was a well-deserved accolade for the high quality instruction and student achievement that is consistently delivered in YISD. The Broad Prize scholarships the YISD seniors receive are a great start to accomplish their higher education goals.