State Schools Chief Tom Torlakson Announces Exemplary Program Awards and Title I Achieving Schools
SACRAMENTO—State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson today announced additional honors for 508 of the 779 elementary schools that were recognized as Gold Ribbon Schools.
Thirty-five of those Gold Ribbon Schools have been selected as having an Exemplary Program in Arts Education or Physical Activity and Nutrition. Schools applied separately for those honors.
Additionally, Gold Ribbon Schools that are also Title I schools were recognized as Academic Achieving Schools. This distinction is given only to schools receiving federal Title I funds that aid in meeting the educational needs of students living at or below the poverty level. The list of recognized schools follows at the end of this press release.
"I'm delighted to honor these schools and programs, which are doing a tremendous job preparing our students for 21stcentury opportunities and graduating lifelong learners in the process," Torlakson said.
Several Gold Ribbon Schools won multiple awards. Two schools—Jefferson Elementary School in the Sanger Unified School District, Fresno County, and Gordon J. Lau Elementary School in San Francisco—won all three additional honors (recognized for being a Title I Academic Achieving School and given Exemplary Program Awards in both Arts and Physical Activity and Nutrition).
The Exemplary Program Awards were created in 2013 to celebrate those schools carrying out the goals in Torlakson's A Blueprint for Great Schools report, which provided vision and direction for the California education system. That report was updated in 2015 with A Blueprint for Great Schools Version 2.0.
More information on Exemplary Program Awards is available at the California Gold Ribbon Schools Program page on the California Department of Education's Web site.
The 2016 Elementary Gold Ribbon Schools as well as the 2016 Exemplary Program recipients, Title I Academic Achieving Schools, 2016 Green Ribbon Schools, 2016 Civic Learning Award Schools, and the National Blue Ribbon Schools from 2015 will be honored in May and June during regional ceremonies held in Santa Clara, Anaheim, Los Angeles, Visalia, and Sacramento.
2016 Exemplary Program Awards and Academic Achieving Schools
* AAA = Academic Achieving School Award
* ARTS = Exemplary Arts Education Program Award
* PAN = Exemplary Physical Activity and Nutrition Education Program Award
* ARTS = Exemplary Arts Education Program Award
* PAN = Exemplary Physical Activity and Nutrition Education Program Award
