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Success Stories
There are many success stories in our Manhattan Beach schools. Here are a few highlights…
2010 Costa Grads go Coast to Coast
Costa grads attend the finest colleges and universities in the nation, in fact, there is a Mira Costa graduate at each of the Ivy League schools. For a list of the colleges and universities selected by the MCHS class of 2010 click here. For stories from the 2010 Costa valedictorians who maintained 4.0 GPAs, please visit our Facebook page. MBEF funds the College and Career counselors at Mira Costa.
MBUSD Test Scores Highest in the Area; District Ranks Fifth in the State
For the past several years MBUSD has ranked fifth in the state among unfied school districts (“unified” means a district has an elementary, middle and high school). This year MBUSD came within one point of the number four district, Palo Alto, posting a score of 915, up from last year’s score of 909. Piedmont, San Marino and La Canada Flintridge rounded out the top five districts as they have for many years.
For the last two years, MBEF donations have funded science specialists at each our elementary schools. Over that time we have seen a significant rise in elementary science test scores. This rise clearly demonstrates the difference the Specialists have made for our children and our district. Click to review a Beach Reporter article on testing results or a Daily Breeze story about hands-on learning with MBEF-funded Science Specialist, Tanya Sanchez.
Our science specialists not only help our kids in MBUSD, they were recently selected to share their lessons with peers at the California Science Teachers Association annual meeting. They covered lessons on pendulums, water surface tension, the elemental table and geology. In a first for the meeting, they also coached the teachers on how to deliver a lesson on disecting a sheep’s heart– a lab they do with our fifth graders.
Donations Reinstate Teachers
More than 60 percent of district families gave to MBEF last school year, a new record. Their generosity helped reinstate 12 K-3 classroom teachers and maintain small class sizes in those grades. In all, donations to MBEF reinstated 84 educators in our MBUSD schools for the 2009-10 school year. Here is what one of those educators had to say to our parents:
“I am so blessed to have a group of parents that are willing to stand up for me, and are committed
to the excellent education of their children. Creative and fruitful solutions to the budget
problems are not going to come from pretending that this isn’t happening.… I will always appreciate
what you have done not only for me but for the district as well. Not only have you saved
my job, but you have allowed me to continue on in the profession that is my passion and my
calling.”
- Megan Brown, 4th grade teacher, Pacific Elementary
Last year, the average donation from an MBUSD parent was $1,497. Matching gifts amounted to $273,142.
About Mira Costa High School
Ninety-seven percent of Mira Costa seniors go to college. The school offers 18 AP courses and is in the top two percent of California high schools academically. Its music and performing arts programs are tops in the state. Its newspaper, broadcast journalism and Model United Nations programs are also national award winners.