More than a dozen Downey Unified schools have been selected by the Educational Results Partnership (ERP) and the Campaign for Business and Education Excellence (CBEE) as 14 of the 1,866 public schools in California to receive the title of 2016 Honor Roll School, it was announced last week. 

Along with this distinction, the Downey Unified School District as a whole was selected as one of 20 public school districts to receive the paralleling title of 2016 Honor Roll School District.

The schools within Downey Unified that have received the title of 2016 Honor Roll School are: Alameda Elementary, Downey High, Gallatin Elementary, Griffiths Middle, Imperial Elementary, Lewis Elementary, Old River Elementary, Price Elementary, Rio San Gabriel Elementary, Stauffer Middle, Unsworth Elementary, Ward Elementary, Warren High and Williams Elementary.

The Honor Roll is part of a national effort to identify higher-performing schools and highlight successful practices that improve outcomes for students. Schools receiving this distinction from leaders in the California academic and business communities have demonstrated consistent high levels of student academic achievement, improvement in achievement levels over time and reduction in achievement gaps among student populations.
 
For high schools, the Honor Roll recognition also includes measures of college readiness. The Honor Roll is comprised of two different awards, the “Star School” Award and “Scholar School” Award.
 
CBEE Star Schools are those with significant populations of socio-economically disadvantaged students that have shown a significant increase in grade-level proficiency over time.  CBEE Scholar Schools are schools that are showing significant levels of academic achievement, but do not have a significant socio-economically disadvantaged student population.
 
All 14 Downey Unified schools mentioned have received the title of being a 2016 Honor Roll School, as well as being awarded as Star Schools.
 
“We are so proud to be recognized by leaders in the California business community as an Honor Roll School,” said Downey Unified Superintendent, Dr. John Garcia. “Our teachers and administrators work tirelessly to keep the focus on high expectations, student academic achievement and continuously improve our practices. This hard work and dedication is paying off for all of our students, no matter their background.”

The California Honor Roll program is made possible with generous support from numerous businesses and organizations including Automobile Club of Southern California, Macy’s, Wells Fargo, Enterprise Holdings Foundation and several private foundations.

“We are proud to recognize those schools and school districts who are succeeding in putting their students on a path of productivity that not only leads to success in the classroom, but also prepares them to contribute to and benefit from a more productive economy,” said Greg Jones, ERP and CBEE Board Chairman. “Leadership from both education and the business community is critical to linking success from one system to the next, and ensuring that students have the knowledge and skills necessary to achieve a college degree and the financial security of a living wage job.”

The Honor Roll is a school recognition program that uses only academic achievement data showing improved academic growth over time and a closing of the achievement gap.
 
“The Honor Roll proves that many schools are doing well, even those with high numbers of historically disadvantaged students,” said Jim Lanich, ERP President and CEO.  “These schools are clearly doing something right and all schools, no matter what zip code they are in, can achieve this kind of success. School and school district leadership have a great opportunity to find out what’s working at these Honor Roll Schools and replicate it.”
 
A full list of the Honor Roll schools, districts can be found here.