Five 'Distinguish' themselves

Five Kern County schools that applied for California’s “Distinguished Schools” awards were honored in results released by the California Department of Education (CDE) on April 16.

The schools designated “distinguished” are: Kern Valley High and Stockdale High — Kern High School District, Woodrow W. Wallace Middle School — Kernville Union School District, Earl Warren Jr. High and Tevis Jr. High — Panama-Buena Vista Union School District. They are five of the 171 California public junior high, middle and high schools that will be honored as Distinguished Schools May 18 at an awards ceremony at the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim.

California Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell, who announced the award winners, said of them, “These middle and high schools have shown they are able to meet the challenge of providing their students with the kind of rigorous education that is essential to their future success in the classroom and the workplace."

Kern County Superintendent of Schools Larry E. Reider offered his own praise minutes after hearing the announcement.

"Kern County can be proud of the fine showing by these schools,” Reider said. “They have certainly demonstrated their commitment to children and what dedication to teaching to the state’s curriculum standards can achieve. My congratulations to all of them.”

Distinguished School Awards came out of the School Recognition Program which was created in 1985.

This year, the selected middle and high schools represented about seven percent of California’s nearly 2,400 middle and high schools. Only 478 schools met the eligibility criteria based on their student achievement. Of those, 279 schools chose to submit an application, describing in-depth their curriculum, instructional program, supports for students and school climate.

Applications underwent an intensive evaluation process conducted by CDE in partnership with the California County Superintendents Educational Services Association, and with the help of many local educators from across the state. Finally, all nominee schools were reviewed during a site validation conducted by a team of external educators. The schools were evaluated by teams of local educators under the direction of CDE, and those schools judged to be exemplary were visited by an outside review team to validate the application information.


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