Orange, CA – May 4, 2017 – Orange Unified is proud to celebrate Villa Park High School’s validation as a 2017 California Gold Ribbon School. Villa Park is one of only 29 Orange County schools to earn Gold Ribbon distinction this year.
Villa Park High School’s Leadership Team, in conjunction with teacher leaders, prepared an in-depth report inspecting one important hallmark of the school: The significant closing of the achievement gap. Their Model Practice was presented to a Gold Ribbon School Validation Committee in March, followed by a multi-faceted Validation Visit event conducted by staff from the Orange County Department of Education.
“We all would like to congratulate our teachers, staff, students and families who made this award a historic reality for our school,” stated Villa Park High School Principal Ken Miller, Ed.D. “Celebrating this signature practice has been years in the making and I am so proud of my team as well as those throughout the recent past that set the precedent of Villa Park High School as a School of Excellence.”
After extensive interviews with administrators, staff, parents, and students to gather qualitative data affirming Villa Park’s Model Practice, as well as classroom visitations to observe live instruction effectively demonstrating and validating their Model Program, the Validating Team inspected quantitative data affirming the high school's closing of the achievement gap. The extensive report that was prepared was then sent to State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson, who announced his formal decision to award Villa Park High School the 2017 California Gold Ribbon School Award in April.
“These terrific schools are leading the way in embracing our new rigorous academic standards and showing others how to help students succeed on their way to 21st-century careers and college,” said Torlakson in a news release. “I look forward to traveling the state to honor these schools and to help share the programs, methods, and techniques that are working.”
California Gold Ribbon Schools were recognized at a ceremony held at the Costa Mesa Hilton in Costa Mesa on May 1, 2017.