Twenty school districts in Orange County have earned a spot on the 2024 Honor Roll — a prestigious list released by Educational Results Partnership — recognizing top-performing schools and districts that demonstrate success in improving student achievement and closing achievement gaps.
The list is produced by the national Campaign for Business and Education Excellence and is based on an analysis of student achievement data. This year, 1,823 schools in California — approximately 21 percent of the state’s schools — earned recognition.
Honor Roll schools and districts were identified for consistently outperforming state averages on the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress, or CAASPP, in English language arts and math. To qualify, schools and districts needed to exceed the state mean at least 80 percent of the time while demonstrating progress in closing achievement gaps for historically underserved populations.
The program aims to highlight schools and districts where students are building skills critical for workforce and life success, while encouraging collaboration among educators by sharing effective practices for improving student outcomes.
For more information and the full list of Honor Roll school districts, visit edresults.org.
Here are the other stories we’ve been following this week:
- The 2024 California School Dashboard is up and running, offering a detailed look at Orange County schools’ performance, including improvements in graduation rates and chronic absenteeism, while guiding targeted support for student groups and local districts.
- Students at Gilbert High School in Anaheim collaborated with teachers and artists to create a CITYarts PEACE WALL mural, featuring their depictions of peace as part of a broader community art initiative.
- Several Orange County elementary and middle schools earned recognition in U.S. News & World Report’s 2025 statewide rankings, which analyze student proficiency, performance and socioeconomic factors to highlight quality campuses across California.
- Parenting OC is accepting nominations for its 12th annual School Heroes of Orange County awards — recognizing exceptional teachers, school staff and administrators from K-12 schools across the region.
- The Orange Unified School District board has appointed Michael Christensen as interim superintendent, following the recent departure of Superintendent Ernie Gonzalez.
- At 17 years old, Sophia Park, a former Oxford Academy student, has become the youngest person to pass the California bar exam — breaking the record previously set by her brother.
- Hundreds of students attended the Future Leaders Conference in Anaheim — hosted by Vital Link in partnership with OCDE and OC Pathways — to explore careers, build skills and engage in workshops on topics ranging from artificial intelligence to financial literacy.
- The Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District board voted 3-2 Tuesday to amend contracts requiring a supermajority to dismiss the superintendent and top administrators, according to an Orange County Register report.
- President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Linda McMahon, former wrestling executive and small-business advocate, as secretary of Education, according to a Los Angeles Times report.
- The founder of the education technology startup AllHere, has been arrested and charged with fraud for allegedly deceiving investors and misrepresenting their company’s financials —impacting a chatbot project for Los Angeles schools.
This is the part where we encourage you to keep up with local education news stories by bookmarking the OCDE Newsroom, subscribing for emailed updates and following us on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram.