Cerritos School Among 15 in State Named Awarded 'Blue Ribbon'

Three schools in Los Angeles County and two in Orange County were among 15 around California named Tuesday as National Blue Ribbon Schools, according to the state Department of Education.

La Canada Elementary in the La Canada Unified School District, Opal Robinson Elementary of Manhattan Beach Unified and Frank C. Leal Elementary, an ABC Unified campus in Cerritos, were honored for either being high achieving or having made significant academic improvements.

The honorees in Orange County are Stonegate Elementary of Irvine Unified and Oxford Academy of the Anaheim Union High School District.

Students at the high achieving schools are expected to be the among the state's top performers in English and mathematics on standardized tests, while various social and economic subgroups are supposed to score as well as their peers.

Exemplary-Improving schools have at least 40 percent of their students from disadvantaged backgrounds and have improved student performance to high levels in English and mathematics on state tests or assessments compared to national norms.

"These schools are wonderful illustrations of the work we do here in California schools to prepare our students to thrive in the world they will find outside of our classrooms," said state Superintendent of Schools Tom Torlakson. "I am proud to see them held up as national examples."

In California, 13 public schools and two private institutions were honored. Nationwide, 236 public schools were named along with 50 private campuses.

The winning schools can display a blue ribbon flag on their campuses. They'll be honored in Washington, D.C., in November.

– City News Service.