More than 250 Orange County schools have earned statewide recognition for their work to create positive, supportive learning environments for students.
California Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports, or PBIS, recently announced nearly 2,700 recognized schools for the 2025-26 school year, including 253 schools representing 21 Orange County school districts and education agencies.
Of the local recipients, 129 earned platinum recognition, 61 received gold, 52 earned silver and 11 received bronze.
Launched in 2015, the statewide recognition system honors schools for implementing PBIS with fidelity to the national framework. PBIS is a multitiered framework that uses evidence-based practices to support students’ academic, social, emotional and behavioral needs. The framework includes three levels that provide increasing levels of support based on student needs.
When implemented effectively, PBIS can help schools create more preventative, responsive and productive learning environments while strengthening classroom management and providing additional support for students who need it.
A complete list of 2025-26 bronze, silver, gold and platinum recipients is available on the California PBIS website.
Here are the other stories we’ve been following this week:
- The Orange County District Attorney’s Office will host an e-bike and e-motorcycle buyback event Sept. 13 at Angel Stadium, offering gift cards in exchange for unwanted electric vehicles as part of a countywide safety initiative.
- The OCDE Newsroom gathered first-day photos and social media posts from schools and districts across Orange County as students and staff return to campuses for the new school year.
- Hip-hop DJ Grand Wizzard Theodore spoke with students in OCDE’s ACCESS program about his accidental invention of the record scratch and encouraged them to embrace education, hard work and opportunities to learn.
- Orange County is expected to experience unusually high temperatures this week, with an Extreme Heat Warning for inland communities and a Heat Advisory along the coast through Friday.
- Newport-Mesa Unified has become the first in California to prohibit e-bikes, e-scooters and other electric transportation devices on K-8 campuses, while allowing trained high school students to continue using them.
- Orange County Power Authority is offering free clean energy lesson plans developed by OCDE’s Inside the Outdoors program to help K-12 students explore renewable energy, climate and community decision-making.
- Six Orange County high school football teams opened their seasons in Hawaii with victories, completing a 6-0 sweep while giving student-athletes opportunities to experience the islands and build team connections.
- Corona del Mar High School junior Callie Arambarri spent about 200 hours over the summer creating a 20-by-8-foot campus mural depicting student life and school activities.
- California lawmakers approved a bill that would require annual math assessments for kindergarten through second-grade students beginning in 2028-29, along with additional support for students who are falling behind.
- Three California School Boards Association-backed bills aimed at increasing state accountability for closing student achievement gaps stalled in the Senate Appropriations Committee, leaving one measure in the legislative package still moving forward.
- A UCLA report found that nearly 300,000 K-12 students in California experienced homelessness during the 2024-25 school year, reaching a new statewide high.
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