University High School at Fresno State earned yet another accolade today when it was named one of the state’s top 10 charter campuses by the University of Southern California’s Center on Educational Governance.

The sixth-annual USC School Performance Dashboard, developed by the center at USC’s Rossier School of Education to strengthen accountability among California’s charter schools, lists University High School (UHS) as tied for seventh with two Los Angeles area schools and a Bay Area school.

UHS is one of two schools selected that operate on a university campus.

In May, UHS was nationally ranked by three different news organizations — U.S. News and World Report, The Washington Post and Newsweek. Previously it was named a California Business for Education Excellence Honor Roll School and earned a sixth consecutive national championship in the Academic Decathlon competition for small high schools.

“For the last 12 years University High School has been committed to creating the best possible high school experience for students of music and rigorous academics,” said James Bushman, Head of School at UHS. “We are honored that our work is being recognized.”

Today’s USC report draws on data from 2003 to 2011 to rate charter schools across multiple measures of financial health and academic performance, including state test scores and classroom spending,  according to the announcement. It also states that the 2011-12 school year saw the highest growth rate in the history of California’s charter school movement, with a 13 percent jump in the number of new charter campuses over the year before.

“The USC School Performance Dashboard uses data collected for accountability purposes to help parents decide which school is the right fit for their child, for teachers to decide where they want to work and for those funding charter schools to judge the return on their investment,” said lead author Priscilla Wohlstetter, director of the Center on Educational Governance.

University High, a free public school, was chartered in 2000 and is an independent charter school in the Fresno Unified School District. A 470-student, college preparatory, music- and arts-enriched school, it serves youth in grades 9-12.

The school moved into a new, permanent facility on the Fresno State campus in November of 2010.  University High students have access to Fresno State facilities, attend college courses for credit and receive a small-school, accelerated-achievement high school experience.

For more information, contact Head of School James Bushman at 559.278.8263.

A full copy of the report and accompanying interactive database can be found at www.uscrossier.org/ceg/

Related links: