Agoura, Granada Hills Highs : 2 Schools Win Academic Acclaim

Granada Hills and Agoura high schools were named as two of 62 top secondary schools in California, officials of the state Department of Education announced Thursday.

Granada was honored for overall scholastic improvement during the past three years. Agoura was cited for sustained excellence in its academic program.

The 62 California high schools were selected in the state’s prestigious Distinguished Schools Awards program. From those campuses, state education officials will select entrants in the national school recognition program to be held this fall. Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, the competition will recognize top high schools across the nation.

Schools in the state competition were judged on the standardized test scores of their students, the number of students taking college-preparatory courses, extracurricular activities and community support.

The nominees were compared only against schools that have students from similar socioeconomic backgrounds.

“This means a great deal to us because we’re just a good, old-fashioned American school,” Ann Falotico, Granada High’s principal, said of the award. “We don’t have any of the goodies. We’re not a magnet. We’re just a regular school.”

Granada has an ethnically diverse campus of about 2,250 students. About 30% of the student body is bused from Los Angeles neighborhoods west of downtown and in the Wilshire area.

In the past three years, the number of Granada students tackling difficult courses has increased dramatically. For example, in 1984, 32% of graduating seniors with college preparatory majors had taken chemistry. By 1987, the figure had risen to 70%.

Compared to students at similar schools, Granada ranked in the 90th percentile in the number of students who had enrolled in at least three years of mathematics and in the 97th percentile in the number who had taken at least three years of science.

State officials who toured the Granada Hills campus made special mention of the centers for peer counseling and career advisement, a pilot program in school newspaper desk-top publishing and a community drive that raised $10,000 in two weeks to bring anti-drug crusader David Toma to campus.

At Agoura High, state officials praised the school’s ability to maintain a superior educational program on the 2,000-student campus, which is in an affluent rural community.

Agoura High students ranked in the 90th percentile in the number of students who took advanced math courses, such as calculus, and in the 98th percentile in the number of students who took four or more years of English.

“The expectation and ethos of this school district is very college-oriented,” said Agoura Principal Michael Botsford. “There’s not any one thing that keeps our program at a high level. We have a strong faculty, a comprehensive educational program, a good support staff, great kids and a very supportive community.”