Broward public schools will find out this week if they have edged out school districts from across the country to win a competition that has been dubbed the Nobel Prize for public education.

The Broad Prize for Urban Education (Broad rhymes with road) will be announced in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday. The winner will come home with $1 million in student scholarships.

Even if Broward doesn't win, the school district -- and the other four nominees -- will receive $250,000 for showing consistent improvement in reading and math skills among poor and minority students.

But winning would give Broward major bragging rights -- and provide a much-needed boost to the district after a bruising summer of layoffs and steep budget cuts.

``It's a validation,'' Schools Superintendent Jim Notter said. ``We're really not a fluke. There's real greatness in our school system and teaching staff.''

Broward, a finalist for the second consecutive year, is up against a previous winner, a past finalist and two other rising stars for the highly competitive prize.

The five districts made the final cut for having more Hispanic, black and low-income kids graduating high school; taking rigorous, college-level courses, and sitting for college-entrance exams like the ACT and SAT. Districts cannot apply for the prize.

The California-based Broad Foundation picks the finalists from the 100 largest districts in the country -- recognizing that boosting student achievement is particularly challenging in urban school systems as opposed to in smaller, more affluent ones.

``These aren't perfect districts by any means, but they've been able to keep pretty high standards,'' said Erica Lepping, a spokeswoman for Broad, which has been awarding the annual prize since 2002. The foundation was created in 1999 by former businessman Eli Broad and his wife, Edythe.

The Miami-Dade school district, a three-time finalist, was in the running for the prize last year. As finalists, Miami-Dade and Broward received $250,000 in scholarships in May.

Thirty graduating seniors -- 15 from Miami-Dade, 15 from Broward -- received scholarships of $5,000 or $20,000 in recognition of their grade-point averages, college-entrance exam scores, financial need and academic improvement.

Being a previous finalist does not necessarily increase a district's chances to win. The school district in Brownsville, Texas, won as a first-time finalist last year. Boston made the top five four times before winning in 2006.

While Notter and several School Board members will be in Washington to attend the award ceremony, school district employees and the public will be able to follow the event via webcast at a watch party at the district's Fort Lauderdale headquarters.

This year, Broward -- the nation's sixth-largest school district, with more than 250,000 students -- is the largest school system among the five finalists, and the one with the most sizable black student population, 38 percent.

It also has a smaller proportion of low-income students than the other finalists: 44 percent, compared to 84.3 percent at the Aldine Independent school district in Houston, for example.

The Broad Foundation sent researchers to each district last school year to look at practices that have contributed to students' progress and methods that could be replicated elsewhere.

``We're trying to cross-pollinate, to make it easier for other districts to adopt what's working,'' Lepping said.