2006 Honor Roll
(06/02/2007)

 

A list of 100 California schools (the "Star Schools", up from 74 schools last year) with high penetrations of low income students who are making tremendous strides in closing the academic achievement gap was published this past month. The cumulative, year-after-year academic performance of the 100 Star Schools in this list are as different from PUSD schools as night from day, as different as talkers from doers, and quite different from the many achievement awards in education whose indices include metrics that simply serve to perpetuate the academic achievement gap.**

In stark contrast from education's feel-good awards, the 2006 Honor Roll recipients follow in the table below. But first a summary of these schools, highlighting one of the many interesting details we can learn from their performance:

• 35% of the 2006 Star Schools spend significantly less per student than the CA avg
• 27% of the 2006 Star Schools spend about the same per student as the CA avg
• 38% of the 2006 Star Schools spend significantly more per student than the CA avg
• 68% of the 2006 Star Schools spend the same or less per student than PUSD

As in previous years, the relationship between spending and consistently high academic success*** is once again weak at best. And with so many of this year's 100 Star Schools below returning from last year's list of 74 and also to be found in studies of education's best practices, the repeatability of what these schools do to bring their low income populations to consistent, all-subjects academic success remains as clear as ever. Has there ever been a better time for having a sense of urgency for bringing these best practices home to Altadena?

CBEE/JFTK-CA 2006 Star Schools (http://jftk-ca.org/honorroll06/). The schools on this list have a high poverty, high minority student population. While these schools face significant challenges, they are making tremendous progress bringing students to grade level proficiency and closing achievement gaps. In fact, their progress puts them on a path to reach 100% grade level proficiency for all their students in just a few years. (Revenue data: http://www.ed-data.k12.ca.us/)
School	District	$/ADA	County
American Indian Public Charter	Oakland Unified	$10,313	Alameda
Lincoln Elementary	Oakland Unified	$10,313	Alameda
Oakland Charter Academy	Oakland Unified	$10,313	Alameda
Pioneer Elementary	Amador County Unified	$6,773	Amador
Bird Street Elementary	Oroville City Elementary	$8,147	Butte
Los Medanos Elementary	Pittsburg Unified	$7,554	Contra Costa
Firebaugh High	Firebaugh-Las Deltas Joint Unified	$7,761	Fresno
Manchester Gate	Fresno Unified	$8,505	Fresno
Jefferson Elementary	Sanger Unified	$7,754	Fresno
Auberry Elementary	Sierra Unified	$10,606	Fresno
Grant Elementary	Eureka City Unified	$8,357	Humboldt
Washington Elementary	Eureka City Unified	$8,357	Humboldt
Dow's Prairie Elementary	McKinleyville Union Elementary	$7,420	Humboldt
Luther Burbank Elementary	ABC Unified	$7,491	Los Angeles
Brightwood Elementary	Alhambra Unified	$8,159	Los Angeles
Santa Fe Elementary	Baldwin Park Unified	$7,279	Los Angeles
Albert Baxter Elementary	Bellflower Unified	$7,363	Los Angeles
Lawndale High	Centinela Valley Union High	$8,661	Los Angeles
Danbury Special Education	Claremont Unified	$7,660	Los Angeles
Sumner Elementary	Claremont Unified	$7,660	Los Angeles
Bursch Elementary	Compton Unified	$8,874	Los Angeles
Ralph Bunche Elementary	Compton Unified	$8,874	Los Angeles
Alice M. Birney Elementary	El Rancho Unified	$7,356	Los Angeles
Baldwin Academy	Hacienda la Puente Unified	$7,700	Los Angeles
Kwis Elementary	Hacienda la Puente Unified	$7,700	Los Angeles
Ramona Elementary	Hawthorne	$7,954	Los Angeles
Billy Mitchell Elementary	Lawndale Elementary	$8,269	Los Angeles
Alvarado (Juan Bautista) Elementary	Long Beach Unified	$8,137	Los Angeles
California Academy of Mathematics and Science	Long Beach Unified	$8,137	Los Angeles
Allesandro Elementary	Los Angeles Unified	$9,465	Los Angeles
Baldwin Hills Elementary	Los Angeles Unified	$9,465	Los Angeles
El Oro Way Elementary	Los Angeles Unified	$9,465	Los Angeles
Elysian Heights Elementary	Los Angeles Unified	$9,465	Los Angeles
Garvanza Elementary	Los Angeles Unified	$9,465	Los Angeles
Glenfeliz Boulevard Elementary	Los Angeles Unified	$9,465	Los Angeles
Halldale Elementary	Los Angeles Unified	$9,465	Los Angeles
Lemay Street Elementary	Los Angeles Unified	$9,465	Los Angeles
Mountain View Elementary	Los Angeles Unified	$9,465	Los Angeles
Ramona Elementary	Los Angeles Unified	$9,465	Los Angeles
Stagg Street Elementary	Los Angeles Unified	$9,465	Los Angeles
Van Ness Avenue Elementary	Los Angeles Unified	$9,465	Los Angeles
Watts Learning Center	Los Angeles Unified	$9,465	Los Angeles
Lincoln Elementary	Lynwood Unified	$8,067	Los Angeles
Montebello Gardens Elementary	Montebello Unified	$8,093	Los Angeles
Farjardo Elementary	Rowland Unified	$7,794	Los Angeles
San Jose-Edison Academy	West Covina Unified	$7,452	Los Angeles
Orange Grove Elementary	Whittier City Elementary	$7,856	Los Angeles
John Adams Elementary	Madera Unified	$7,775	Madera
Cathey's Valley Elementary	Mariposa County Unified	$9,129	Mariposa
Yamato Colony Elementary	Livingston Union Elementary	$7,546	Merced
Hopeton Elementary	Merced River Union Elementary	$8,249	Merced
Creekside Elementary	Alisal Union Elementary	$8,548	Monterey
Margaret G. Scotten Elementary	Grass Valley Elementary	$9,034	Nevada
Ethan B. Allen Elementary	Garden Grove Unified	$7,709	Orange
Gilbert Elementary	Garden Grove Unified	$7,709	Orange
John Marshall Elementary	Garden Grove Unified	$7,709	Orange
Mabel Carver Elementary	Garden Grove Unified	$7,709	Orange
Newhope Elementary	Garden Grove Unified	$7,709	Orange
Las Lomas Elementary	La Habra City Elementary	$7,446	Orange
College Park Elementary	Newport-Mesa Unified	$9,278	Orange
Jim Thorpe Fundamental	Santa Ana Unified	$8,629	Orange
Jeane Thorman Elementary	Tustin Unified	$7,134	Orange
Pioneer/Quincy Elementary	Plumas Unified	$10,277	Plumas
Indian Hills Elementary	Jurupa Unified	$7,493	Riverside
El Potrero Elementary	Val Verde Unified	$6,667	Riverside
Victoriano Elementary	Val Verde Unified	$6,667	Riverside
Arthur S. Dudley Elementary	Center Joint Unified	$6,890	Sacramento
H. W. Harkness Elementary	Sacramento City Unified	$8,561	Sacramento
James Marshall Elementary	Sacramento City Unified	$8,561	Sacramento
Juniper Elementary	Hesperia Unified	$6,777	San Bernardino
Rios Elementary	Cajon Valley Union Elementary	$7,999	San Diego
Darnall E-Campus Charter	San Diego Unified	$9,686	San Diego
Pacific Beach Elementary	San Diego Unified	$9,686	San Diego
Perry Elementary	San Diego Unified	$9,686	San Diego
Alvin M. Dunn Elementary	San Marcos Unified	$7,040	San Diego
Knob Hill Elementary	San Marcos Unified	$7,040	San Diego
Francis Scott Key Elementary	San Francisco Unified	$9,460	San Francisco
Ulloa Elementary	San Francisco Unified	$9,460	San Francisco
Visitacion Valley Elementary	San Francisco Unified	$9,460	San Francisco
East Palo Alto Charter	Ravenswood City Elementary	$11,875	San Mateo
Linda Vista Elementary	Alum Rock Union Elementary	$8,168	Santa Clara
Thomas P. Ryan Elementary	Alum Rock Union Elementary	$8,168	Santa Clara
Meadow Lane Elementary	Cascade Union Elementary	$9,010	Shasta
Castle Rock Elementary	Castle Rock Union Elementary	$10,766	Shasta
Millville Elementary	Millville Elementary	$7,800	Shasta
Montgomery Creek Elementary	Mountain Union Elementary	$17,404	Shasta
Etna Elementary	Etna Union Elementary	$9,461	Siskiyou
Grenada Elementary	Grenada Elementary	$9,115	Siskiyou
Mt. Shasta Elementary	Mt. Shasta Union Elementary	$8,473	Siskiyou
Seiad Elementary	Seiad Elementary	$12,589	Siskiyou
J. X. Wilson Elementary	Wright Elementary	$7,627	Sonoma
Rose Avenue Elementary	Modesto City Elementary	$8,189	Stanislaus
Evergreen Elementary	Evergreen Union	$7,423	Tehama
Weaverville Elementary	Weaverville Elementary	$7,878	Trinity
Heritage Elementary	Tulare City Elementary	$7,391	Tulare
Norman R. Brekke Elementary	Oxnard Elementary	$8,230	Ventura
Lincoln Elementary	Ventura Unified	$7,518	Ventura
Arboga Elementary	Marysville Joint Unified	$7,985	Yuba
Cordua Elementary	Marysville Joint Unified	$7,985	Yuba
Johnson Park Elementary	Marysville Joint Unified	$7,985	Yuba
[No JFTK-CA 2006 Star Schools]	Pasadena Unified	$9,104	Los Angeles
	All-California USD Average	$8,032
	All-California Average	$8,150

**e.g. "Title One Achieving Schools"; "Met AYP Goals" declarations that would keep schools serving low-income communities academically far below their high-income community peers for 70 plus years even if they did make their AYP goals every year; the Jay Mathews Index from the Washington Post that recently ranked PUSD's Marshall HS above La Canada HS despite Marshall's maddening inability to get anywhere near the average of its top 10 demographic peers in math, much less a Best in CA HS like La Canada HS. Note Marshall's irrefutably very low math performance in:
http://www.jftk-ca.org/data/data.php?action=multi&cds=19648811931674&subject=MATHEMATICS&year=2006 ).

***Spending calculated on a per-student ($/ADA a.k.a. $/Average Daily Attendance) basis

 

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