Events honor model middle schools—and exemplary middle school governance teams
Published: March 29, 2011
Five California middle schools have been honored as the 2011 Schools to Watch—Taking Center Stage model middle schools.
They are:
- Andrew Carnegie Middle School, San Juan Unified School District (Sacramento County)
- Calavera Hills Middle School, Carlsbad Unified School District (San Diego County)
- La Paz Intermediate School, Saddleback Valley Unified School District (Orange County)
- Vista Verde Middle School, Val Verde Unified School District (Riverside County)
- Washington Academic Middle School, Sanger Unified School District (Fresno County)
“I congratulate each of these schools for earning this well-deserved designation,” state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson said in announcing the winners. “Each school met the distinctive needs of [its] middle grades students by building strong academic and extracurricular programs to support achievement for each student.”
Each school is considered a model in the following four areas: implementing best practices focused on academic achievement; responding to the developmental needs of young adolescents; offering a fair and equitable education for all students; and instituting organizational processes and procedures that foster and sustain academic growth.
California Middle Grades Alliance recognizes governance role in student success
Getting middle school students’ attention and helping them succeed academically and personally is a goal of a related group, the California Middle Grades Alliance, which honored governance teams in 21 school districts at a recent Sacramento luncheon. CSBA and 10 other organizations statewide support the Alliance as part of their overall mission to improve outcomes for middle grade students in school, at home and in the community.
Representing CSBA, Region 5 Director Laura Rich offered introductory comments urging members of governance teams to have a vision for each of their middle school sites.
“What’s your ideal? How are you going to get there?” Rich, a member of Menlo Park City Elementary School District’s governing board, urged school board members and administrators to ask themselves. “Don’t let whatever happens in Sacramento or the budget get in the way of your vision.”
The luncheon’s keynote speaker was Trish Williams, executive director of the not-for-profit EdSource research and analysis organization—and one of Gov. Jerry Brown’s new appointees to the State Board of Education. With EdSource senior research associate Matt Rosin, Williams expanded on “Improving Middle Grades Mathematics Performance,” a recent EdSource study of algebra course placement among California eighth-graders.
Williams and Rosin reported that, while more eighth-graders are taking algebra, too many are failing because they are not prepared for that level of study. The study found that schools serving predominantly low-income and minority students were more likely than schools with mostly affluent students to make Algebra I the default curriculum in grade 8. The result—failing a course they are not prepared for—likely creates an aversion toward math in these students going forward, Rosin warned.
Governance leaders recognized
The luncheon honored school boards and superintendents in the following 21 school districts:
- Alum Rock Union Elementary School District
- Bonsall Union School District
- Brentwood Union School District
- Coalinga-Huron Joint Unified School District
- Cucamonga School District
- Empire School District
- Etiwanda School District
- Garvey School District
- Mammoth Unified School District
- Menlo Park City Elementary School District
- Moorpark Unified School District
- Needles Unified School District
- Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District
- Ramona Unified School District
- San Diego Unified School District
- Soquel Union Elementary School District
- Torrance Unified School District
- Vallecito Union School District
- Val Verde Unified School District
- Victor Valley Union High School District
- Westside Union School District
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