State's Business Community Honors 4 Novato Public Schools

Four Novato public schools were recently selected by the California Business for Education Excellence to receive the title of 2011 Honor Roll school, the  said. 

, , and  are four of 1,614 public schools in California to receive this title from the California business community.

Superintendent Shalee Cunningham said the district was excited by the statewide honors. 

“Our schools are focused on getting all students to grade level proficiency," she said. "The Honor Roll, with its focus on achievement data over time, validates our teachers’ hard work and results.”

CBEE recognizes schools for demonstrating consistent high levels of student academic achievement, improvement in achievement levels over time and reduction in achievement gaps among student populations.

In addition, Hamilton School was also recognized as a 2011 CBEE Star School, one of 527 California schools. Star Schools are those with significant populations of socio-economically disadvantaged students that have shown a significant increase in grade-level proficiency over time.

“These schools are the bright spots of excellence in efforts to raise student academic achievement and close persistent achievement gaps,” said Jim Lanich, president of CBEE. “By highlighting them, recognizing their achievement and giving them a voice we hope other schools can learn from them and replicate their proven practices throughout the state.”

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 annual award is supported by numerous businesses and organizations including State Farm, Macy’s, Edison International, Wells Fargo, Southern California Auto Club, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, the California Business Roundtable, and several private foundations.

“We must change the conversation in public education from being about failure to one that focuses on replicating the success of schools like those on the Honor Roll,” said Greg Jones, CBEE Chairman. “These schools are not making excuses about their performance and are overcoming challenges and obstacles to improvement every day. Our goal is to highlight their results so they can be copied in other places.”

The Honor Roll list grew from 1,315 schools in 2010 to the current 1,614 for 2011. The number of Honor Roll STAR (high poverty, high achieving) schools increased from 478 in 2010 to 527 in 2011. A full list of the Honor Roll schools and the STEM Honor Roll can be found here.

The mission of California Business for Education Excellence 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.