State schools Superintendent Tony Thurmond named an additional 121 schools — including 28 in the greater Bay Area — as 2021 California Distinguished Schools.
The award honors schools who have made improvements in test scores, suspension rates, and conditions and climate. The state originally honored 102 schools March 18, but after further review of the data added the additional schools.
“Our thanks go to the entire communities surrounding these schools, including the teachers, administrators, and classified employees as well as the students and their families who, through teamwork, all accomplished this impressive achievement together,” Thurmond said in a statement released Tuesday by the California Department of Education.
Below is a list of 28 schools in the greater Bay Area added Tuesday among 121 statewide named 2021 California Distinguished Schools, sorted by county and district.
Alameda County: Alameda Unified – Alameda High, Alameda Science and Technology Institute; Fremont Unified – John F. Kennedy High; New Haven Unified – James Logan High; Oakland Unified – Oakland School for the Arts, Oakland Unity High; Pleasanton Unified – Amador Valley High, Foothill High.
Contra Costa County: Acalanes Union High – Acalanes High, Campolindo High, Miramonte High; John Swett Unified – John Swett High; San Ramon Valley Unified – California High, Dougherty Valley High, Monte Vista High; West Contra Costa Unified – Middle College High.
Marin County: Tamalpais Union High – Tamalpais High.
Monterey County: Carmel Unified – Carmel High.
San Francisco County: San Francisco Unified – Lowell High.
San Mateo County: Sequoia Union High – Carlmont High.
Santa Clara County: Campbell Union High – Branham High; East Side Union High- Evergreen Valley High, KIPP San Jose Collegiate; Fremont Union High – Cupertino High, Monta Vista High.
Santa Cruz County: Santa Cruz County Office of Education – Pacific Collegiate Charter.
Solano County: Fairfield-Suisun Unified – Angelo Rodriguez High.
Sonoma County: Cotati-Rohnert Park Unified – Credo High.
the state of california ranks 49th out of 50 states in education.
That award can’t even be a participant award. No participant.
Pulse – you are way off the mark. The schools in the Acalanes and San Ramon districts have been recognized nationally for years.
Nevada holds the honor of being 49th in education. And by some of the people I’ve met in NV it shows
huh, but with equity we will slip to 51th out of 50, ya i know but it will be that bad
#RecallGavinNewsom
#NotBruceJennerToManyFreaks
https://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/sr/cs/awardees2021.asp
From Mt. Diablo Unified Foothill Middle school was recognized in March.
Dumb it down some more & start teaching everything in Spanish.
fun fact, most illegal aliens can barely speak spanish and even less can write it
must be why mexico exports its poor to us
Way to go Acalanes. Still a top school. So happy I had the privilege of graduating for a top school
Remember this is what the machines voted for
And the people cheered
Wow!
It is pretty amazing how that a communities of affluent and educated parents who are making the effort to use their resources to educate their kids manage to get recognized for what they were always going to do well. Most of these kids arrive at kindergarten already knowing how to read. I am very happy for their success, and our society needs it. However, this recognition is like creating an award for search results just to give it to Google.
@Dr. Jellyfinger Ignorance is insolent. Don’t talk about education please, obviously not your strong suit. Smh
Ignorance is Claudia.
SB also in affluent areas at least one if not both parents have a BA degree or Masters. The more educated the parents the higher expectations they have for their children’s education. All the schools listed from the Acalanes district have very high graduation rates and entrances numbers to 4 year colleges
So none from MDUSD but Keisha Nzewi and Erin McFerrin aren’t concerned so long as they are able to call their constituents white and privileged. That’s nice. Bang up job everyone. Maybe if we have more DEI modules and add CRT to the curriculum we will crack the list.
Wait… is the list white and privileged too? I can’t keep track of this stuff.
How much are the homes in these districts? Look it up I bet most homes are in affluent areas or close to it. I live in a part of MDUSD where median home prices start at $750,000 and the schools in my district are crap. For the state to brag about these so called prestigious schools is a slap in the face to lower and modest middle class families.
Wealthy areas have more money to approve and pay for school bonds, more money for direct school fundraisers, parents more likely to remained married and stable, as well as have extra time to participate in PTA, school volunteering, and teaching kids at home. On top of that, IQ is a strong predictor of financial success, and is fairly heritable, so kids in those areas are already likely to be smarter than average and therefore have a leg-up in the game.
On one hand, I’d like to see a more equitable system for funding schools. On the other, we already spend insane amounts, and most of that money might as well just be put in a pile and burned for all the improvement it has made. The individual student, their family, and the effort put in will always remain the most determining factor in educational success. But since its racist to believe in meritocracy, we will never get a system that encourages that.
Mount Diablo USD continues to evade excellence! Might as well keep the District closed and pay parents to educate their children at home or in private school.
Years ago, MDUSD fought the Walnut Creek Northgate group to separate from MDUSD and to create their own new NUSD. Why? Because MDUSD is so big that it cannot serve the needs of such a large student body (32,000) over 149 square miles.
Fact: Most of the $$ is being spend on new English learners in MDUSD so native English speakers get cheated.
MDUSD should allow NUSD to separate, then MDUSD apply for more Govt funds, stating that 95% of their students are new English learners. Then MDUSD would get alot more $. But as it is now, NUSD area is holding them back. It would be a win-win if NUSD was separated from MDUSD, each school district serving their own needs.
But as it is now, MDUSD is like a giant country, trying to meet the needs of everyone and failing at everthing. Ever since chief legal counsel Mr. Rollens was ousted in 2009, MDUSD has been financially backrupt. Nothing as changed except for demographics. There are 1000% more spanish speaking kids in Concord/Pittsburg than 12 years ago. MDUSD has failed to address this. The goal of MDUSD is to spend all the $$ on English learners to bring them back up to zero. So if your kid is just a little bit above zero, they don’t care, won’t spend $ on them. That is why MDUSD cut the “gifted gate” program for exceptionally achieving kids. Theyre using the money to help Spanish speakers learn English.
This is why Walnut Creek School District (Homestead Rd toward DTWC) has a much higher educational level than MDUSD.
In other news, if you ask a local high school student in one of the Distinguished Schools who Winston Churchill was, he will guess a singer in a 1960’s band.
That same student can’t tell you what year the War of 1812 was fought.
But they could tell you who the top 10 tik tok’ers are!
It’s crystal clear what’s happening to MDUSD. All one needs to do is look at the school demographics and performance level of each respective demographic at greatschools.org. Now, do that for AUHSD. The conclusion is obvious.
Shocking. Where is Clayton Valley Charter High School on that list? After all, Clayton Valley Charter High School was supposed to do so much to elevate education in the area that the Clayton City Council loaned a private entrepreneur taxpayer money to get it established.