An equal shot at success

Long Beach High School was designated a “School of Opportunity” and earned a Silver Award in an initiative conducted by the National Education Policy Center seeking to recognize excellence in public schools that work to close opportunity gaps between students of disparate income levels and backgrounds.

Principal William Stroud said the designation highlights the multiple career paths the school offers students. He notes that because Long Beach students have a wide range of socio-economic backgrounds, there are many secondary education paths open to them — community college, four-year schools, Ivy League schools or vocational schools.

Traditionally, Stroud said, school districts offer structured sequences of courses such as regents, advanced and Advanced Placement classes that all lead to different outcomes and types of diplomas. In Long Beach, students are not locked into any specific track. “Rather than create these tracking mechanisms, by creating different pathways we can have high expectations but recognize that different students have different capacities and desires for education,” Stroud said.

The Schools of Opportunity project, which is funded by the Ford Foundation and the National Education Association Foundation, was piloted in just two states for the 2014-2015 school year, Colorado and New York. Next school year, the project will include high schools nationwide. Long Beach High School was one of 17 selected for the current academic school year. These schools range in student-body size and include schools in rural, urban and suburban settings.

“We are pleased to announce this distinction earned by the high school, which reflects the collaboration of our Board, administration, staff and community,” Superintendent David Weiss.