Eight Pasadena Unified School District (PUSD) schools have been selected by Campaign for Business and Education Excellence (CBEE) to receive the title of a 2014 Honor Roll school.
Schools receiving this distinction from the California business community 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 CBEE Honor Roll is comprised of two different awards, the “Star Schools” Award (1328 schools) and “Scholar Schools” Award (523 schools).
Webster Elementary School, Don Benito Fundamental School, Hamilton Elementary School, Marshall Fundamental Secondary School, Norma Coombs Elementary School, Roosevelt Elementary School and Willard Elementary School were named CBEE Star Schools. 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.
Sierra Madre Elementary School received the distinction of being a CBEE Scholar School. CBEE Scholar Schools are schools that are showing significant levels of academic achievement, but do not have a significant socio-economically disadvantaged student population.
The business community is also recognizing a subset of the Honor Roll that has both high percentages of low-income students and high levels of math and science achievement. These 100 STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) Honor Roll schools will receive special recognition of their accomplishments. PUSD’s Hamilton Elementary School was named to the STEM Honor Roll by CBEE.
The annual Honor Roll award is made possible with support from numerous businesses and organizations including State Farm, Macy’s, Wells Fargo, Southern California Auto Club, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, the California Business Roundtable, and several private foundations. Chevron Corporation provided specific support in the creation of the STEM Honor Roll.
“Many of our high performing schools are not getting the recognition they deserve. These schools that succeed in reducing the achievement gap and preparing their students for college and careers should be celebrated,” said Lee Blitch, CBEE Chairman and past CEO, San Francisco Chamber of Commerce. “There are schools all over California that are leaders in ensuring their students are getting the best quality of education. Those schools need to be recognized.”
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 American education system has a secret. Many schools are doing well… the Honor Roll proves it. Students are achieving at higher levels than anyone admits and more students than ever are succeeding when given the opportunity.” said Jim Lanich, CBEE president. “All schools, no matter what zip code they are in, can achieve this kind of success and leadership from the business community is critical to ensuring successes for all students.”
The Honor Roll list grew from 261 schools when the program began in 2005 to the current 1851 for 2014. The number of Honor Roll STAR (higher poverty, high achieving) schools increased from 74 in 2005 to 1328 in 2014.
A full list of the Honor Roll schools and the STEM Honor Roll can be found at ca.edresults.org/HonorRoll or email [email protected].
Campaign for Business & Education Excellence
The mission of the Campaign for Business & Education Excellence is to use the power of data to learn what works to improve public education and close the achievement gap. Since 1998, CBEE has worked to focus businesses around a common agenda for high performing public schools leading to increased college success and economic productivity. CBEE serves as the business community’s leading voice in education in California.
