Briefly in education

Harbor View Elementary School will be transformed into a western White

House on Friday for a celebration of the students’ academic achievements.

The school is one of four California Distinguished Schools in the

district and the only one to win a prestigious national Blue Ribbon award

this year.

School officials planned to travel to Washington, D.C., to accept the

Blue Ribbon plaque but decided against it after the Sept. 11 attacks. So

the plaque came to them and will be presented Friday.

To qualify as a distinguished school mainly requires an Academic

Performance Index score in the upper half of state scores. The index is

based on the Stanford 9 test in the spring.

Then schools must complete a self-assessment that involves the entire

school community in a common school-improvement project.

The Blue Ribbon criteria focuses on schools that are models of

excellence and equity and that achieve high academic standards or have

shown significant academic improvement over five years.