High schools

Adult handing student a starfish

Anaheim district is first to make OCDE’s Inside the Outdoors program available to all students (video)

Ian Hanigan
Marking a first for Orange County, the Anaheim City School District is giving every one of its students the opportunity to receive quality outdoor science education through OCDE’s long-running Inside the Outdoors program. You read that right -- every student at every grade level. For Anaheim City, that means approximately 20,000 kids in transitional kindergarten through grade six will receive hands-on lessons covering science and nature. [...]
Students using a computer

High School Inc. program leverages local businesses to promote college and career readiness

Ian Hanigan
The High School Inc. program at Valley High School in Santa Ana may have raised a few eyebrows when it announced that students who entered as sophomores had posted a near-perfect graduation rate of 98.5 percent in 2014. But graduation statistics only tell part of the story. What’s perhaps most unique is this school-within-a-school’s approach to blending college and career readiness. Click through to learn more.
Attendance Awareness Month badge

Attendance Awareness Month launches in September

Staff reports
All schools in Orange County will be back in session in September, making it a great time to emphasize the importance of not missing school. It is critical that schools intervene early to identify and address the issues that contribute to chronic absenteeism. [...]

California Department of Education develops drought response best practices for schools

Staff reports
California is now in its fourth straight year of below average rainfall and this past winter was one of the warmest on record. The snow pack in the Sierra Nevada has a water content of only five percent of the historic average, the lowest since 1950. This has placed California firmly in one of the worst droughts in the state's recorded history. Everyone, including schools, are encouraged to do their part to conserve water. [...]
An image of Orange County Superintendent Al Mijares

Mijares: JPL internship exemplifies collaborative efforts to create college and career pathways

Al Mijares
A paid summer internship that has eight talented Santa Ana students working with JPL scientists and engineers is "precisely the type of experience that was envisioned when the state Department of Education awarded our own OC Pathways initiative a $15 million grant to expand career pathways for students from kindergarten through college," writes Dr. Al Mijares, Orange County superintendent of schools. Click through to read the superintendent’s latest column.