A leading California business group has recognized 45 San
Diego Unified schools as being "bright spots of excellence," with positions on
its annual Honor Roll.
California Business for Education Excellence, a
group whose members include the Bank of America, Blue Shield of California,
Macy's and Webcor Builders, designated 21 San Diego Unified schools as Star
Schools, which are high poverty, high performing, achievement gap closing
schools. Another 24 schools were named Scholar Schools, identified as high
performing schools without significant levels of low-income students. Nine
schools on the Honor Roll were named STEM
Schools for their high performance in
math and science.
"It's especially gratifying for the students, teachers
and staff to be recognized for reducing the achievement gap and being
high-performing schools," said Superintendent Bill Kowba. "These are key areas
that are the focus of the Board of Education and our staff and it's good to have
an independent organization verify the success in these areas."
The
following schools were on the Honor Roll.
Star Schools -- high poverty, high performing, achievement gap closing
schools: Angier, Birney, Crown Point, Cubberley, Edison, Ericson, Florence,
Garfield, Green, Hardy, Jones, Kimbrough, Ocean Beach, Pacific Beach, Sandburg,
Sherman, Vista Grande, Wegeforth, Zamorano elementary schools; Language Academy
and Mira Mesa High School.
Scholar Schools -- high performing schools without significant levels of
low-income students: Benchley/Weinberger, Bird Rock, Curie, Dailard, Dingeman,
Doyle, Grant, Hearst, Holmes, Jerabek, Kumeyaay, La Jolla, Marvin, Miramar
Ranch, Scripps, Sessions, Silver Gate, Sunset View, Tierrasanta, Torrey Pines
elementary schools; Marshall and Standley middle schools; La Jolla and Scripps
Ranch high schools.
STEM Schools -- Honor Roll schools with highest performance for math and
science: Angier, Birney, Ericson, Garfield, Green, Hardy, Pacific Beach,
Sandburg, Vista Grande elementary schools.
"We must change the
conversation in public education from being about failure to one that focuses on
replicating the success of schools like those on the Honor Roll," said Greg
Jones, CBEE Chairman. "These schools are not making excuses about their
performance and are overcoming challenges and obstacles to improvement every
day. Our goal is to highlight their results so they can be copied in other
places."
The Honor Roll list grew from 1,315 schools in 2010 to the
current 1,614 for 2011. The number of Honor Roll Star (high poverty, high
achieving) schools increased from 478 in 2010 to 527 in 2011. For San Diego
Unified, the 2011 list honored 45 schools, up from 28 in 2010, not including
charter schools. In the program's first year, 2005, just six schools were on the
list. A full list of the Honor Roll schools and the STEM Honor Roll can be found
at: www.cbeefoundation.org/honor_roll.html.
"These schools are the bright
spots of excellence in efforts to raise student academic achievement and close
persistent achievement gaps," said Jim Lanich, California Business for Education
Excellence president. "By highlighting them, recognizing their achievement and
giving them a voice we hope other schools can learn from them and replicate
their proven practices throughout the state."
The annual Honor Roll award
is made possible with support from numerous businesses and organizations
including State Farm, Macy¹s, Edison International, Wells Fargo, Southern
California Auto Club, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, the California Business Roundtable,
and several private foundations. Chevron Corporation provided specific support
in the creation of the STEM Honor Roll.