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Organization: Newhall School District
Date: December 1, 2008
Newhall District Schools Selected by California Business for Education Excellence and Just for the Kids-California for Prestigious Honor Roll
Dr. J. Michael McGrath, Oak Hills, Pico Canyon, Stevenson Ranch, Valencia Valley, and Wiley
Canyon Elementary Schools in Newhall School District Recognized by California Business
Community for high student academic achievement and closing achievement gaps
Santa Clarita, CA. — Newhall School District announced today that six of its schools
have been selected by California Business for Education Excellence (CBEE) and Just for
the Kids-California (JFTK-CA) to join a group of 911 public schools in California
receiving the title of 2008 Honor Roll school.
Schools receiving this distinction from California's business community have
demonstrated consistent high student academic achievement and have made significant
progress toward closing achievement gaps among all their students. The CBEE/JFTK-
CA Honor Roll is made up of two different awards, the Star Schools Award (214 schools)
and Scholar Schools Award (697 schools).
"We are thrilled we've been selected as an Honor Roll school and recognized by
California's business community," said Marc Winger, superintendent. "Our teachers and
administrators are committed and have worked tirelessly to ensure the focus is on student
academic achievement and reaching grade-level proficiency. We hold all our students, no
matter what their background, to the same high standards because we believe they can all
reach grade-level proficiency."
No other school recognition program in California uses hard data, individual school and
student subgroup performance data based on the California Standards Tests to evaluate
school academic performance. It is only by looking at this hard data, student test scores,
and evaluating students and schools based on grade-level proficiency of the California
standards, that educators, parents and the public can thoroughly understand what is
happening in our schools and ensure that schools are on track to get all kids to grade level
proficiency.
Over the past three years, the Honor Roll list has grown from 304 schools in 2006 to 569
schools in 2007 to 911 schools in 2008. A full list of the Honor Roll schools, sorted
alphabetically by county, can be found at www.cbee.org.
"We know from the success of these schools that it's possible for all schools and all
students in California to reach high levels of academic achievement, to close achievement
gaps and to reach 100 percent grade-level proficiency on the California Standards Test,"
said Jim Lanich, Ph.D., president of CBEE. "Honor Roll schools are on track to do it. By
highlighting these schools, recognizing their achievement and giving them a voice we
hope other schools can learn from these schools' proven ‘best practices' and achieve the
same results."
"Schools on the Honor Roll dispel the myth that certain students can't reach grade-level
proficiency and that schools with a challenging student population won't be able to
succeed," said Greg Jones, CBEE Chair. "These schools are overcoming challenges every
day. The business community continues to be impressed by the growing number of
California public schools that make the Honor Roll each year and that are getting the job
done for our students."
CBEE Star Schools are those with significant populations of socio-economically
disadvantaged students that have shown a significant increase in grade-level proficiency
over four years for all subgroups. In Newhall, McGrath And Wiley Canyon qualified for
this recognition.
CBEE Scholar Schools are schools that are showing significant levels of academic
achievement, but do not have a significant socio-economically disadvantaged student
population. Oak Hills, Pico Canyon, Stevenson Ranch and Valencia Valley qualified
under these criteria.
* * *
California Business for Education Excellence
The mission of California Business for Education Excellence (www.cbee.org) is to raise
student academic achievement and close achievement gaps in California public schools
by ensuring every student reaches a minimum of grade level proficiency. This is
accomplished by providing a voice to high performing, high poverty public schools so
that all schools can replicate their best practices. Since 1998, CBEE has worked to focus
businesses around a common agenda for better public schools and serves as the business
community's leading voice in education.
Just for the Kids-California
The non-profit organization Just for the Kids -- California (www.jftk-ca.org) provides a
powerful on-line data and school improvement system free of charge to California's
public schools and communities. JFTK-CA promotes measurably improved academic
achievement in public schools through focused use of achievement data, research and
replicating effective school improvement strategies from across the state and nation. The
JFTK-CA school improvement system has become the largest longitudinally linked,
student academic achievement database in California and is receiving three millions hits
per month from California schools.
