Six Huntington Beach schools win state honor

Six area middle and high schools were named California Distinguished Schools Wednesday.

Dwyer Middle School and Edison and Marina high schools in Huntington Beach joined Vista View, Fulton and Masuda middle schools in Fountain Valley for the honor, which recognizes the top public schools in the state.

The schools were among 136 middle and 125 high schools around the state to receive this year’s honor, out of nearly 2,400 schools statewide. State Supt. Jack O’Connell called each school’s principal Wednesday to give them the news.

This was Fulton’s first Distinguished School honor, and comes on the heels of big gains in its students’ math scores, Principal Chris Christensen said. The school surpassed 900 points on its recent API exam, giving it one of the top grades in the state.

After taking a dip in 2007, the school made a concerted effort to raise its math scores above even 2006 levels, which may have caught the eye of the nominating committee.

Fulton also has run a Spotlight program over the last two years that Christensen said gives struggling math and English students the chance to get extra tutoring during their regular elective period.

The school also has focused on improving its eighth-grade science program, and has become knowledgeable of data-driven instruction methods that allow the school’s Professional Learning Communities, groups of teachers who work together to improve student achievement,, to go back to challenging portions of the curriculum and give students additional assistance.

“For us, the challenge now is to keep the scores up,” Christensen said.

Principal Don Ruisinger said this is Dwyer’s third Distinguished School honor, but the first since he took the school’s helm.

“I’d say every bit of the kudos go to the teaching staff here,” Ruisinger said. “They’re just taking me along for the ride.”

He described efforts made over the last several years to reach the school’s at-risk population; Dwyer calls itself a House of Scholars and Champions.

“Our day-to-day work is making sure every student has a distinguished experience here,” he said.

Each school that applied for the honor was required to describe two “signature” practices that contribute to their students’ success. The programs will be described on a website later this year for other schools to implement.

The schools also will be among the first to be nominated for national Blue Ribbon awards later this year.

Each school will be given its award May 29 at the Disneyland Hotel.

Reporter CANDICE BAKER can be reached at (714) 966-4631 or at [email protected].