North Star Nominated as 2012 National Blue Ribbon School

joined 11 other Bay Area schools that were nominated to the 2012 National Blue Ribbon Schools Program, according to State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson.

To be eligible for the prestigious nomination, schools must be in the 85th percentile or above on statewide tests or count among the top 10 percent of schools serving a largely socioeconomically disadvantaged student body showing consistent improvement over the past five years, according to the .

 “We are thrilled that North Star has been recognized by Superintendent Torlakson and are so proud of everything our students and staff have accomplished through hard work and collaboration,” said Superintendent Jan Christensen in a statement.

As a school board member and parent of North Star students, trustee Alisa MacAvoy expressed her pride in this distinction and credited the teachers and administration.

“It’s a wonderful learning environment where the kids are very supportive of one another as well as teachers of the students,” she said.

Parent Club president Suba Butler added that “teachers retire reluctantly” because they enjoy their jobs so much.

Though there are no advanced tracks for students, the curricula are compacted slightly, so the students squeeze a normal curriculum into the first five hours of the day. This leaves the sixth hour for an enrichment activity of their choice. These activities, varying from rock climbing to German class to math puzzles allow students to excel in a certain area and make school fun. This enables them to expand beyond the traditional Houghton-Mifflin textbooks for additional hands on-learning and critical thinking activities, explained Butler.

“With the fun activities, they’re willing to work that much harder,” she said.

North Star students must test into the school based on six criteria. However, because students are tested during second grade before they are accepted, this is not an indicator of guaranteed continued success through 8th grade.  

Butler credits the school's succes to teachers's dedication to providing differentiated education for each student, even in a classroom of 32, to ensure that all students are meeting a certain education standard.

“They can look at one student and say “Okay I can give them tough math problems and leave them alone, then look at another student and say, we need to bring in parent tutors twice a week for additional help,” Butler said.

She says furthering this tailored education would help students succeed even more as they move on to high school.  

Another suggestion she offered was utilizing technology and the Internet more. North Star currently does not have wireless Internet in all of its classrooms, something she laments for being so close to Silicon Valley.

Butler noted that schools like would be using Khan Academy, a free online academic resource, to facilitate extra student learning during the evenings.

But these small factors does not discount her belief that putting together high-achieving students can accomplish great things.

State-wide Blue Ribbon Nominees

Thirty-five schools statewide, including North Star, were selected as preliminary nominees for recognition as either a high-performing or improving school, Torlakson announced Tuesday. Final nominations will be announced in August or September, Torlakson said.

A school must have also met federal Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) goals in 2010 and 2011 and made its state Academic Performance Index (API) targets in both years, according to the state education department.

In the 2010-11 school year, the school earned an API score of 992 out of a total 1,000, making it the highest-performing school in San Mateo County.

“I’m very excited, but also a little nervous,” said Butler. “Because the state might say ‘we cut and cut the budget down to nothing, but look how wonderfully they’re doing!’”

Woodside Elementary, the other San Mateo County Blue Ribbon nominee, gets approximately $8,000 more per student a year than Redwood City students do.

In Santa Clara County, the state has recognized hopefuls Palo Alto Unified School District school Hebert Hoover Elementary; Santa Clara Unified School District school Millikin Elementary; Los Altos Elementary district's Oak Avenue Elementary; and Cupertino Union school district's R.I. Meyerholz Elementary.

San Francisco Unified School District schools Alice Fong Yu Alternative School and Lowell High have been tapped as possible award recipients.

Four schools nominated in Alameda County hail from Oakland, Fremont and Piedmont City unified school districts, including Fred T. Korematsu Discovery Academy; J. Haley Durham Elementary and William Hopkins Junior High; and Piedmont High, respectively.

--Bay City News contributed to this report.

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