By Lookout Staff
April 21 -- Two Santa Monica Schools have won annual awards for being among California’s exemplary public schools.
Lincoln Middle School and Malibu High School were two of 261 secondary schools selected as 2009 California Distinguished Schools, which recognizes academic excellence and efforts to close the achievement gap.
“These extraordinary middle and high schools have shown they are able to increase the achievement of all their students and have provided evidence that they are closing the achievement gaps that, unfortunately, exist at many schools,” State Superintendent of Schools Jack O’Connell said in a statement Monday.
“The Distinguished Schools program always identified schools that are leaders in academic achievement,” O’Connel said. “It now also recognizes schools that are leaders in helping all students succeed, and highlights the best practices that are effective in closing the gap."
This year, schools were required to provide an in-depth description of two "signature" practices that can be replicated and are directly related to the success of their students, State officials said.
A trained team of external educators then visited the schools to gather and analyze additional evidence that the "signature" practices are effective.
District officials said the award recognized the exemplary work at local schools.
“I am pleased that Lincoln Middle School and Malibu High School are being recognized for their hard work in closing the achievement gap,” said Superintendent Tim Cuneo. “It takes a team of committed teachers, support staff, and administrators to achieve such distinguished recognition.”
“The accomplishments of Lincoln Middle School and Malibu High School show the community the strength of our public schools in educating all of our students,” praised Board President Ralph Mechur. “We couldn't be more proud of the individual and team efforts to reach this milestone.”
The selected middle and high schools represent about 10.9 percent of California's nearly 2,400 middle and high schools.
Of those, only 341 schools met the eligibility criteria based on their student achievement and were chosen from 170 school districts in 46 counties.
An awards ceremony honoring the Distinguished Schools will be held Friday, May 29 at the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim. The Disneyland Resort is a major corporate sponsor of the event.
The list of 136 middle schools and 125 high schools may be viewed at http://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/sr/cs/disting2009.asp.
