Spring Grove School, designated just a few years ago as a
program improvement school for not meeting statewide proficiency
goals, was selected as a 2010 California Distinguished School.
Spring Grove School, designated just a few years ago as a program improvement school for not meeting statewide proficiency goals, was selected as a 2010 California Distinguished School.
It was the only school in San Benito County and one of 484 schools statewide to receive the honor.
“It’s an honor,” said Principal Jenny Bernosky, who put the news on the electronic school marquee and announced the honor to students, teachers and parents on Monday. “It’s great for the community around us.”
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell said the schools on the distinguished list have persevered despite state budget cutbacks and should be examples for other schools that are looking to improve.
“I had the privilege to call all the winning schools and personally shared the good news with each principal,” O’Connell said in a release. “These dedicated educators I spoke to clearly share a school-wide vision of excellence where every student can succeed and achieve at the very highest levels of performance.”
Eligible schools were nominated by the state based on their Academic Performance Index and Adequate Yearly Progress results, which are state and federal measurements, respectively. Applicants such as the K-8 Spring Grove were also identified for narrowing the achievement gap between lower- and higher-performing students.
“We had to write a 20-page application,” said Bernosky, noting that eight of those pages explained the academic strategies used to close the school’s achievement gap over the past two years. “We spent 30 to 40 hours proving what we wrote in our application. Hands down, everybody shared the same positive attitude and experience that we wrote about in our application.”
Bernosky credited a dedicated staff, administration, school board and parents for the honor, noting Superintendent Evelyn Muro’s leadership throughout.
To emerge from the program improvement status, Bernosky said school officials looked more closely at various data about student achievement – or lack thereof.
For the full story see the Pinnacle on Friday.
