Bakersfield.com

Four Kern County schools that applied for California’s “Distinguished Schools” awards were honored in results released  April 9 by the California Department of Education (CDE).

            The schools designated “distinguished” are: Downtown Elementary School and Dr. Juliet Thorner School — Bakersfield City School District, Columbia Elementary School — Fruitvale School District, and Stockdale Elementary School — Panama-Buena Vista Union School District. They are four of the 343 California public elementary schools to be honored as “Distinguished Schools” May 16 at an awards ceremony at the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim.

            “These four schools are great examples of what can happen when dedicated, hardworking teachers and administrators take the extra steps to make sure their students have the best possible education,” said Kern County Superintendent of Schools Larry E. Reider. “We know even more schools in the county will follow the excellent examples Downtown, Thorner, Columbia and Stockdale have set today to join that distinguished list in the years to come.” 

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

            This year, 839 California elementary schools submitted applications and were identified as eligible based on their Academic Performance Index and Adequate Yearly Progress results.

            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.