Five Palo Alto elementary schools were honored as 2023 California Distinguished Schools, a state-run award program that's based on student performance data.
Ohlone, Juana Briones, Lucille M. Nixon, El Carmelo and Palo Verde elementary schools were among 356 schools selected statewide. The program honors elementary schools in alternating years with middle and high schools, such that schools hold the title for two years.
The award program returned this year after a one-year pandemic-induced hiatus, according to the California Department of Education. Distinguished schools were last named in 2021.
This year's awardees were chosen based on 2022 California School Dashboard data, which includes math and English standardized test scores, suspension rates, chronic absenteeism rates and demographic information.
"It is my pleasure to honor and recognize these 356 elementary schools for providing outstanding public education and opportunities to students," State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond said in a press release. "Their innovation and hard work have helped to ensure their students can heal, recover, and thrive — even in the toughest times.”
Schools can be recognized in one of two categories, either based on high student performance or success in closing the achievement gap, which refers to disparities in achievement among student groups.
All five Palo Alto schools were recognized for student performance, rather than closing the achievement gap, according to a spreadsheet the California Department of Education released to this news organization. In fact, all of the more than 60 Santa Clara County schools that were named distinguished schools were honored for high student achievement and not for closing the achievement gap.
The 2022 California School Dashboard assigns schools one of five "status levels," ranging from "very low" to "very high," on various metrics.
To be recognized as a California Distinguished School in the high student performance category, a school had to meet four criteria: "high" or "very high" English Language Arts test scores; "high" or "very high" math scores; "medium," "low" or "very low" chronic absenteeism; and "low" or "very low" suspensions, California Department of Education spokesperson Scott Roark told this news organization.
To be recognized in the achievement gap category, at least 40% of a school's students had to be considered socioeconomically disadvantaged, and the school had to meet five criteria: "medium," "high" or "very high" English Language Arts test scores; "medium," "high" or "very high" math scores; "medium," "low" or "very low" chronic absenteeism; "medium," "low" or "very low" suspensions; and "medium," "high" or "very high" math or English test scores for at least one group among African American students, Hispanic students, English learners, socioeconomically disadvantaged students, students with disabilities, homeless students and foster students, Roark said.
A full list of schools that earned the award can be found at cde.ca.gov.
Comments
Registered user
Downtown North
on Jan 12, 2023 at 9:51 am
Registered user
on Jan 12, 2023 at 9:51 am
As a parent, I think Palo Alto schools are overrated, and benefit from the fact that so many wealthy and driven families live here. Our two kids went to Ohlone, and nearly every family we knew supplemented their kids education with after school learning, math camps, tutoring etc. Is Ohlone a good elementary school? It wasn't terrible, but we didn't find the educational experience was all that strong. I would attribute the test scores that drive these ratings more to correlation with socioeconomic status, and not causation.
Registered user
Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on Jan 12, 2023 at 11:31 am
Registered user
on Jan 12, 2023 at 11:31 am
Congratulations to our schools. I disagree—I am a critic where criticism is due, but I think our elementary schools are gems.
My take is very different than @ Paul. If students have time and energy to pursue interests after school, that’s actually a good thing. If “doing school” bleeds over into their whole lives, that’s bad. Some kids actually want more learning, but not from school work. I’d love to see more collaborations between school and such opportunities.
Registered user
Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on Jan 12, 2023 at 4:27 pm
Registered user
on Jan 12, 2023 at 4:27 pm
Going back to the Mandarin Immersion discussions from many years ago, FLES was something requested by many parents. (Foreign Language in Elementary School). This was supposed to mitigate the lottery of a group of students getting the bonus of either Spanish or Mandarin and the rest, get nothing. All studies show that the earlier a foreign language is started, the better a student does. From accent to idioms as well as vocabulary and grammar, the earlier the start the better to become a fluent speaker, reader as well as being able to write the target language. When starting over the age of 12, the student is at a complete disadvantage to anyone who has had even basic one hour given over 2 x 30 minute classes per week at the elementary stages.
Palo Alto keeps foreign language away from the majority of students, even those who speak another language at home. We were promised FLES for everyone, it never happened.
Registered user
Crescent Park
on Jan 12, 2023 at 10:22 pm
Registered user
on Jan 12, 2023 at 10:22 pm
[Post removed.]
Registered user
another community
on Jan 13, 2023 at 10:24 am
Registered user
on Jan 13, 2023 at 10:24 am
Thanks to dedicated parents, students, teachers, and staff. They are the core of any successful school.
Registered user
Midtown
on Jan 13, 2023 at 10:37 am
Registered user
on Jan 13, 2023 at 10:37 am
BRAVO to Juana Briones, El Carmelo, Lucille Nixon, Ohlone & Palo Verde schools! What a nice way to start 2023. Kudos to each school's community (students & families, teachers & staff, volunteers & community members) for the award!
Registered user
Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on Jan 13, 2023 at 12:33 pm
Registered user
on Jan 13, 2023 at 12:33 pm
PAUSD schools provided my kids with an excellent education at Fairmeadow, JLS and Gunn. Our daughter recently graduated Magna Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa with multiple degrees from a highly competitive university. Though we never supplemented with math camps or any of that, we indulged her passions to the extent we could afford to with piano and dance lessons, and low cost theatre camps --all activities she still enjoys as a young adult in her spare time. She told me she often helped friends at university with statistics and math-related problems--though it was not her major subject. She attributes her ability to explain math and science concepts to her excellent PAUSD education. She also had numerous excellent writing teachers (and some duds along the way--but who doesn't?) Part of growing up is figuring out how to deal with people who aren't so easy to work with. Our kids were also blessed to be part of the Gunn HS music, athletic, and theatre programs where they each found a wonderful community and gifted teachers. We spent a lot of time in the Palo Alto public libraries because our family members are all voracious readers...and books are FREE there. She is now embarking on adult life, working and figuring out pathways in the job market, and she is happy. Let's work together to lift up our schools, our teachers...and support our kids learning how to explore new ideas and activities. Public schools thrive when they have community support. They fail under the weight of negativism and lack of parental engagement. Friends, remember your kids are reading what you write here. They listen to you (even when you think they are not listening). I no longer have kids in PAUSD, but I still support our schools in many ways because our community's children are OUR future. Thank you PAUSD for the education you gave my children--not perfect (what is?), but very, very, very good. I'm grateful.
Registered user
Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on Jan 13, 2023 at 12:39 pm
Registered user
on Jan 13, 2023 at 12:39 pm
I should add that I would strongly support the addition of foreign language education in elementary school for every child in every PAUSD. This kind of language learning is good for a child's brain and fosters understanding of other cultures and the kind of adaptability that we all need as we travel through life, especially in a global economy.
Registered user
Midtown
on Jan 13, 2023 at 8:45 pm
Registered user
on Jan 13, 2023 at 8:45 pm
Don Austin’s weekly email didn’t address the fact that we received the awards for performance, not the achievement gap. We should not be ashamed that our students, or the parents of our community, want kids to do well. We should want to help those kids who want to learn be placed in appropriate classes, and not restricted by delaning and eventually getting rid of honors and ap classes. We should be proud of the kids and teachers in this community. Shame on pausd for trying to gradually dumb down our children’s education and hope that no one notices.
Registered user
Midtown
on Jan 15, 2023 at 10:44 am
Registered user
on Jan 15, 2023 at 10:44 am
All PAUSD schools scored very high in English Language Arts and Mathematics except for Barron Park (English - High, Math - High) and Paly (English - Very Low, Math - Low). The student performance data from Paly should tell us to take the standardized testing achievement data with a grain of salt.
Shockingly, the data point that separates the PAUSD "Distinguished Schools" from the other schools in the district is chronic absenteeism. All the other elementary schools would have received the Distinguished Schools accolade if it weren't for high or very high chronic absenteeism, a problem that I didn't anticipate in Palo Alto. Chronic absenteeism is defined as missing 10% of the instructional days. The outlier is Duveneck where 22.6% of the students were chronically absent.