May 16, 2018

SAN LEANDRO, CA — James Madison Elementary was one of 21 elementary schools across Alameda County, and the only school in San Leandro, to be named a 2018 California Distinguished Schools by the California State Department of Education. The Distinguished School Award, known last year as the Gold Ribbon School Award, recognizes schools that have made significant gains in implementing the academic content and performance standards adopted by the State Board of Education, including standards for English Language Arts and Mathematics, California English Language Development Standards, and the Next Generation Science Standards.

Madison was selected based on their successful implementation of a Parent Facilitator Program (PFP) which was launched in 2006 to address what was found to be a big achievement gap in their school, particularly with English language learners and socio-economically disadvantaged families. Through extensive surveys, the school discovered many families were not taking advantage of the district and site programs available to them and there was low awareness of school policies around homework, attendance, and discipline. The PDP established parent facilitators that served as a bridge between home and school, working directly with families and teachers to close the information gap -- which ultimately closed the achievement gap.

"The purpose of the Madison Parent Facilitator is to strengthen the home to school connection by clarifying the changing standards and expectations and defining success for students and their families,” explained Gary M. Grotke, Principal at James Madison Elementary. “We went beyond simply translating information and created connections with the parent community. As families became more connected, we began to harness previously unvoiced perspectives and this feedback provided us with targeted action steps.”

The result was a dramatic increase in attendance as well as lower behavior incidents and suspension rates. In addition, during a seven year span, Madisons’ API (Academic Performance Index) rose from 768 to 878 and their English learner subgroup increased performance from 709 to 884 during the same time span. In 2012 and 2013, Madison hit another milestone, with all of its demographic populations hitting the state target benchmark of 800 on the API.

Please visit the California Department of Education website for more information on the California Distinguished School award.