This article was contributed by San Benito High School Communications Manager Adam Breen.
San Benito High School District is one of 24 public school districts in California to be named to the 2017-2018 Educational Results Partnership Honor Roll for its high achievement and student success.
The program, sponsored by the Campaign for Business and Educational Excellence (CBEE), is part of a national effort to identify higher-performing schools and districts that are improving student outcomes.
“We are proud to be recognized as an ERP Honor Roll School District by educational and business leaders in California,” said SBHS District Superintendent Dr. Shawn Tennenbaum. “Our teachers and administrators are committed to reaching higher levels of academic achievement and continuously improving our practices. We are pleased to see our hard work and dedication translating to positive outcomes for all our students.”
San Benito High School is one of 1,798 public schools in the state to be recognized on the honor roll, which is the only school recognition program in California to use student achievement outcomes as its criteria. A letter to parents from Tennenbaum and Principal Adrian Ramirez notes that schools receiving the honor roll designation “have demonstrated consistent, high levels of student academic achievement, improvement in achievement levels over time, and a reduction in achievement gaps among student populations.”
The administrators noted that the district did not apply for the award.
“Our results led them to us!” Tennenbaum and Ramirez pointed out in the letter announcing the honor. “Because of our accomplishment, we will be featured on the [Educational Results Partnership] Honor Roll website and a banner has been designed for us to hang proudly at our school.”
The Educational Results Partnership (ERP) is a nonprofit organization that applies data science to improve student outcomes and career readiness. It maintains the nation’s largest database on student achievement and utilizes this data to identify higher-performing schools and district. For districts with high schools, such as San Benito, the honor roll recognition also includes measures of college readiness.
“Educational success must be data-informed,” said Greg Jones, ERP and CBEE board chairman. “These honor roll schools and districts are improving student achievement and we have the data to prove it. It’s critical that the business community support and promote educational success, as today’s students are tomorrow’s workforce.”
James Lanich Ph.D, the president and CEO of ERP, said these “bright spot schools and districts,” such as San Benito, “are implementing programs and practices that are improving educational equity and accelerating student success. We need to shine a spotlight on their work and encourage others to replicate it.”
To access the ERP Honor Roll, visit www.edresults.org and search “Honor Roll Dashboard” under the “Research & Data Tools” tab.