Awards Note Tests, Intangibles

They adorn the exterior walls of schools likes stars on a general’s uniform: the plaques, signs, flags and murals announcing school awards. This school earns a “Blue Ribbon,” that one is “Distinguished,” and the one across the way is “Top 100.”

So what do all those awards really mean?

It’s complicated. But generally, the awards note strong--or significantly improved--test scores on a variety of state and local exams, compliance with state and federal rules and regulations, and intangibles such as school culture, innovative teaching and student support.

The awards are often indicators of good schools, said Richard Rothstein, author of “The Way We Were? Myths and Realities About Student Achievement.” But schools without the awards can be just as good, even better.

For example, he said, it’s relatively easy for award-givers to find a school with standardized test scores in the 70th or 80th percentile in affluent, educated neighborhoods--but maybe those schools should be performing a few notches higher, given their advantages.

On the other hand, there isn’t an easy formula for identifying the poor schools--where few students are native English speakers--that is beating the odds: performing at the 40th percentile instead of the 35th, Rothstein added.

“I think parents can consider [award-winning] schools as schools that have gone through a great deal of care in preparing an application,” he said. “They are adequate and exemplary, perhaps. The fact that a school has not received an award doesn’t mean it isn’t a good school.”

Blue Ribbon Schools

This is the biggie--education’s answer to the Oscars.

A federal award given annually to a few hundred schools nationwide that does not carry a monetary grant, the Blue Ribbon has the most rigorous criteria of all awards widely available to public schools. And schools must fill out a massive application.

Schools in the running for the Blue Ribbon are judged on the basis of student support, curriculum, teaching techniques, leadership, school-family-community partnerships and student achievement on a variety of tests and batteries. They also receive site visits from educators from across the country.

One component of the eligibility criteria says that schools must perform above the 63rd percentile rank for several years on a national standardized test, such as California’s Stanford 9. Schools making strides in achievement can also be recognized if they show significant increases in test scores over five years, said Paula Wenzl a consultant in the state Education Department who works with the Blue Ribbon program.

Good for four years, the award cannot be revoked. Some ambitious schools will apply for the award two and three cycles running.

California Distinguished Schools

Before becoming a Blue Ribbon school, interested California campuses must first get this honor.

As with the Blue Ribbon, this award--given to between 5% and 10% of schools in the state each year--alternates annually between recognizing elementary and secondary schools.

Distinguished School nominees are judged based on their technology programs, parent involvement and services for students with language barriers or special needs.

They must also show that half their students are achieving at grade-level in a variety of tests, such as the Stanford 9 and exams specific to district curriculum.

The awards are good for four years, and the state does not do any enforcement to ensure that schools don’t keep plaques up longer than that, said Carol Kennedy, coordinator of the California Schools Recognition Program at the Education Department. “But, yes, there are violators out there,” although not in Ventura County, she said.

If a once-distinguished school has hit the scholastic skids, community members will occasionally pressure officials to remove their Distinguished School plaque.

Top 100 Schools

This now-defunct awards program was created by the private California School Survey in Walnut Creek using data from state standardized test scores.

The Top 100 honors were given in the days when the state used the California Assessment Program and the California Learning Assessment System tests. As those exams were phased out, so was the Top 100 program, although many schools still boast the plaques.

The nonmonetary award was bestowed on the 100 highest-scoring elementary, intermediate and high schools each year.

Although the award no longer exists, schools that maintain high performance tend to hang on to their signs, said Assistant Supt. Richard Simpson of the Conejo Valley Unified School District.

“If you get . . . an Academy Award, you still leave it on your mantle,” he said.