Schools named to Honor Roll
By Michelle Knight knight@theacorn.com

A statewide business and education coalition named Santa Rosa Technology Magnet School in Camarillo to its 2007 Honor Roll earlier this month.

The California Business for Education Excellence Foundation and Just for the KidsCalifornia included Santa Rosa among the 569 public schools across the state recognized for high student achievement and reducing the academic gap for all students.

This is the second year in a row that the kindergartenthrough-eighth-grade school has been named to the Honor Roll, which spotlights schools on track to meet the federal government's target of 100 percent student proficiency by 2013.

"We are honored to receive this recognition for one of our schools," said Luis Villegas, superintendent of the Pleasant Valley School District. "We hold our teachers to the highest standards of education, as well as promote a challenging and diverse curriculum for our students. It's rewarding to see these efforts paying off."

The Honor Roll, based on data from the California Standards Tests and the California High School Exit Exam, consists of two awards.

The Star award, given this year to 126 schools, recognizes schools that have a sizable population of economically disadvantaged students and have shown an increase in academic proficiency and a reduction in the achievement gap for all of its students for more than four years.

The Scholar award recognizes schools that do not have a significant population of economically disadvantaged students but has demonstrated high academic student achievement.

Santa Rosa Technology Magnet was among the 443 schools given the Scholar award.

Santa Rosa has reached 900 on the state's Academic Performance Index twice in the last three years. The goal for all California schools is 800.

Principal Thomas Holtke credited the school's gains in student achievement and reduction in the academic gap to the close attention paid to state test results by administrators, teachers and supportive parents. Students too are held accountable, he said. Holtke reminds them daily of their goal this year of reaching 910 on the API and the importance of developing good character traits and leadership skills.

To achieve their goals, the school faces challenges. It has a growing population of English language learners and the largest group of migrant families in the district, Holtke said. In addition, the school is located in an affluent area but 40 percent of its student population lives outside the area; some are economically disadvantaged students.

The California Business for Education Excellence Foundation is a group of business and education leaders encouraging school to meet state academic standards and close the achievement gaps among students.

Just for the Kids-California is a nonprofit organization that provides online research and improvement strategies to educators, parents and communities free of charge.