Culver City Observer -

Business Education Group Recognizes CCUSD Schools

The California Business for Education Excellence (CBEE) has named six CCUSD schools among the 2,108 public schools in California to receive the title of 2012 Honor Roll school.

Schools receiving this distinction from the California business community have demonstrated consistent high levels of student academic achievement, improvement in achievement levels over time and reduction in achievement gaps among student populations.

The CBEE Honor Roll is comprised of “Star Schools" Award (871 schools) and "Scholar Schools" Award (1,237) schools. CBEE Star Schools are those with significant populations of socio-economically disadvantaged students that have shown a significant increase in grade-level proficiency over time. CBEE Scholar Schools are schools that are showing significant levels of academic achievement, but do not have a significant socio-economically disadvantaged student population.

CBEE named Culver City Middle School and El Rincon, La Ballona and Linwood E. Howe Elementary Schools as "Star Schools," while El Marino Language School and Farragut Elementary school earned places on the "Scholar School" list.

"We have schools throughout the state that are getting it right for all students and this should not be a secret," said Greg Jones, CBEE Chairman and past member of the California State Board of Education.

"To ensure more of our schools succeed we must change the conversation from being about fixing failing schools to one that focuses on replicating the success of schools like those on the Honor Roll."

Over time, CBEE has identified a common set of success factors in higher performing Honor Roll schools and districts. These include high expectations for all students; ongoing collaboration among teachers to improve practice; targeted use of data to pinpoint challenges and monitor progress; continual intervention for struggling students; and mastery of content knowledge and pedagogical practices.

"Honor Roll schools are overcoming challenges and obstacles every day for all students and are especially succeeding with kids who have been historically underserved. Our goal is to highlight their results, and provide a voice to these outstanding educators so that their success can be emulated in other places, " said Jim Lanich, CBEE president.