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| I-Poly students work on a physics problem together. |
International Polytechnic High has been designated as a 2009 California Distinguished School by the California Department of Education. The annual award recognizes some of the state's most exemplary public high schools. This year, 136 middle schools and 125 high schools were selected to receive the distinction.
Located on the Cal Poly Pomona campus, I-Poly is an accredited public high school run by the Los Angeles County Office of Education in partnership with the university. It offers a project-based curriculum that focuses on solving real-world problems.
“California Distinguished Schools must meet the challenge of providing all their students with a rigorous education and to fully prepare today's students for success in postsecondary education or the workforce,” says Jack O'Connell, state superintendent of public instruction. “In an increasingly competitive global economy, it is important that the academic success of all of today's students is directly linked to the effectiveness, competitiveness, and resiliency of our not-too-distant future workforce.
The Distinguished Schools selection process required an in-depth description of two “signature” practices implemented at the schools that are replicable and directly related to the success of their students. Each school received an intensive site visitation by a trained team of external educators, and additional evidence about the effectiveness of the “signature” practices was gathered and analyzed.
The selected middle and high schools represent about 10.9 percent of California's nearly 2,400 middle and high schools. Of those, only 341 schools met the eligibility criteria based on their student achievement and were chosen from 170 school districts in 46 counties. An awards ceremony honoring the Distinguished Schools will be held Friday, May 29, at the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim.
For more information about the California School Recognition Program, visit www.cde.ca.gov/ta/sr/cs/.