RUSD Board Recognizes 4 RUSD Schools for California Business Education for Excellence Honor Roll Award

california business education for excellence recognizes four rowland unified schools as 2012 honor roll schools 

Alvarado Intermediate, Oswalt and Ybarra Academies Selected for Closing Achievement Gap Blandford Elementary For Excellence in Science and Math 

ROWLAND HEIGHTS, CA The Rowland Unified School District Board of Education recognized four of its schools – Alvarado Intermediate, Blandford Elementary, Stanley G. Oswalt Academy, and Ybarra Academy of Arts and Technology  – on June 25, 2013 for having been selected by the California Business for Education Excellence (CBEE) to be on the “2012 Honor Roll.” Schools receiving this distinction are recognized as higher performing schools in the state that are increasing academic performance, closing achievement gaps among all their students, and schools that focus on “STEM” (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math” proficiency. (Pictured left to right: Alvarado Intermediate Principal Ying Tsao, Oswalt Academy Principal Kevin Despard, RUSD Board President Cary Chen, Ybarra Academy Principal Annette Ramirez and Blandford Elementary Principal Mercedes Lovie.)

 

 “We are very proud that the business community has recognized the efforts being made by our educational team on closing the achievement gap and the focus on helping every student perform at their highest level,” said Superintendent Ruben Frutos. “We are also pleased that Blandford Elementary was one of only 100 schools in the state named as a STEM school for its excellence in math and science.”

 

“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.


Alvarado Intermediate, Blandford Elementary and Ybarra Academy of Arts and Technology named Star 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 four years for all subgroups. For further information on Alvarado Intermediate, contact Principal Ying Tsao at (626)964-2358 or visit www.AlvaradoSchool.org. For information on Ybarra Academy of Arts and Technology, contact Principal Annette Ramirez at (909)598-3744 or visit www.YbarraAcademy.org.

 

Stanley G. Oswalt Academy named Scholar School: CBEE Scholar Schools are schools that are showing significant levels of academic achievement, but do not have a significant socio-economically disadvantaged student population. For more information on Stanley G. Oswalt Academy, contact Principal Kevin Despard at (626)810-4109 or visit www.OswaltAcademy.org

 

Blandford Elementary named STEM School: CBEE named 100 of the Honor Roll Schools in the state that have higher poverty and higher performance in math and science. For more information on Blandford Elementary, contact Principal Mercedes Lovie at (626)965-3410 or visit www.BlandfordSchool.org

 

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.

The Rowland Unified School District is proud to serve 16,000 students at 21 elementary and secondary schools in the communities of Rowland Heights, Walnut, La Puente, City of Industry, and West Covina. More than 5,000 adults (16+) are also served by the Rowland Adult and Community Education School. For more information about Rowland Unified, call (626) 965-2541 or visit www.RowlandSchools.org.

 

           

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