A few education-oriented items from around the area:

A Lawrence educator will receive a Governor’s Arts Award this Thursday in Topeka.

Linda Reimond, director of the Arts-Based Preschool Program at the Lawrence Arts Center, will receive the award for Arts-In-Education. The event is set for 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday in the Washburn Room at the Washburn Memorial Union at Washburn University, 1700 Southwest College Ave. in Topeka,

Here’s the description provided by the Kansas Arts Commission:

“Linda Reimond is the director of the first arts-based preschool in the Midwest and one of the first such programs in the nation. Located at the Lawrence Arts Center, the preschool has pioneered the development of arts-based early childhood curriculum, and Linda is a leader in the training of teachers on the use of art in classrooms for young children. Teaching in the preschool for over 25 years, she maintains a consistent presence in the preschool classrooms where she continues to develop innovative ideas to engage early learners in the arts.”

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An expanding private school in Lawrence is opening its doors to the public.

Corpus Christi Catholic School will conduct its Information Day from noon to 1:30 p.m. March 10 at the school, 6001 Bob Billings Parkway.

The school is enrolling students in preschool through seventh grade, a new level added for the coming year. For 2012-13, the school plans to add eighth grade.

The event will give people a chance to see what’s available inside the school, billed as “smaller class sizes, state-of-the-art technology, faith-filled learning, individualized attention in every grade level” and more.

For more information, contact Trish Arnold at (785) 331-3374 or trisha@corpuschristilks.org.

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Officials in the McPherson school district are bidding farewell to the standardized tests that have become the norm in Kansas under the federal No Child Left Behind program.

All with the federal government’s permission and support.

Last week, McPherson officials learned that their waiver application — a first for a Kansas school district — had been approved by the U.S. Department of Education.

In place of the normal standardized assessment tests administered to students throughout Kansas, students in McPherson’s middle and high schools instead will be tested using assessments developed by ACT.

The ACT tests are designed to measure whether a student is ready for college or a high-paying career, the district says, and such benchmarks “represent a much higher standard” than is being asked of other schools in the country.

“This is an important day for students and faculty in McPherson,” said Randy Watson, the district’s superintendent. “This confirms the work that our staff and community has been engaged in over the past several years.”

For background on the issue — including thoughts from Rick Doll, superintendent of the Lawrence school district, who once worked as an assistant superintendent in McPherson — see the story I wrote about this back in August.

— The First Bell e-mailbox is always open: mfagan@ljworld.com.