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Arcadia Unified in the Top 1% of Best School Districts in America
San Gabriel Valley Oct 30, 2020
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ArcadiaUnified School District remains a leader in public education in the UnitedStates, ranking in the top 1%, of the over 10,700 school districts across thenation, according to Niche.
Niche, an influential school and neighborhood reviewwebsite, recently released its 2021 Best School Districts rankings, and ArcadiaUnified has made the grade, achieving an overall A+ grade district-wide.Segmenting its rankings into national, state, and local categories, ArcadiaUnified commands a top spot on each Niche list.
ArcadiaUnified School District Niche Distinctions:
- Top 1%Best School Districts in America.
- Top eightBest School Districts in California.
- Top threeBest School Districts in Los Angeles.
“Over thepast 14 years of serving the Arcadia Unified School District, it’s never beenlost on me how truly special a place Arcadia Unified is,” said Arcadia UnifiedSuperintendent Dr. David Vannasdall. “This prestigious recognition is thedirect result of each member of our team going above and beyond in countlessways each day to support our students and families.”
In addition to the recognition above, Niche noted Arcadia Unified as being in the top 1% of the Best Places to Teach in the nation, California, and the Los Angeles area. Arcadia Unified also is in Niche’s top five for Districts with the Best Teachers in Los Angeles.
Each ofArcadia Unified’s schools has also individually secured top Niche nods forbeing the best schools in Los Angeles. Arcadia Unified elementary schools(Baldwin Stocker, Camino Grove, Highland Oaks, Holly Avenue, Hugo Reid, andLongley Way) landed in the top 2% of the over 2,200 public elementary schoolsin Los Angeles. All three of Arcadia Unified’s middle schools (Dana, Foothills,and First Avenue) rank in the top 2% of Los Angeles. The district’scomprehensive high school, Arcadia High School, also remains a leader among itsover 400 L.A. public high school peers, making Niche’s top 10 Best Public HighSchools in Los Angeles list.
On top ofreceiving top marks from Niche, Arcadia Unified has continued to build on itscommitment to educating the “whole child” by providing support not only foracademics but also for social and emotional development and lifelong leadershipskills. Since the 2018-19 school year, and though not a mandated requirementfor local public school districts, Arcadia Unified has had at least onefull-time school counselor at each of its schools in its dedication to studentmental health and wellness. Likewise, the district also offers charactereducation programs, such as “The Leader in Me” for students in TK-8 grade, andhas adopted “restorative practices,” which are techniques geared towardsbuilding strong, trusting relationships and community in classrooms andschools. This school year, Arcadia High has also implemented a virtual Wellness Center, which has a full-timecounselor solely dedicated to fostering mental health and wellness needs.
How doesNiche arrive at its rankings? According to its website, Niche undergoes arigorous analysis of key statistics and data from thousands of schools, whichincludes information from the U.S. Department of Education and millions ofreviews from students and parents. Ranking factors also include state testscores, student-teacher ratio, student diversity, teacher quality, grade schoolratings, and the overall quality of the school district. For more informationon the Niche rankings, visit niche.com, for more information about the Arcadia Unified School District, visit ausd.net.
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