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News & Announcements

News & Announcements

Gold Ribbon School

Rail Ranch

Rail Ranch Elementary was recognized on May 10, 2016, at the Anaheim Hilton for being 2016 California Gold Ribbon Elementary Schools. The California Gold Ribbon Schools Award was created by the California Department of Education to recognize the model efforts made by these schools to prepare their students for the future. Nearly 6,000 elementary schools were eligible to apply in the past year, yet only 13 percent were awarded the honor.

 

Schools are selected for the award for making gains in implementing the academic content and performance standards adopted by the State Board of Education. These include, the California Standards for English Language Arts and Mathematics, California English Language Development Standards, and Next Generation Science Standards.   

“These schools are academically successful, vibrant, and innovative centers of learning and teaching,” Torlakson said. “They provide great examples of the things educators are doing right—embracing rigorous academic standards, providing excellence and creativity in teaching, and creating a positive school climate.  This award is a direct reflection of the dedication, hard work, and vision of each school’s educational community.”  

2015 California Honor Roll School

Gold Ribbon logo
Rail Ranch was selected as a 2015 Honor Roll School.  The Honor Roll is part of a national effort to identify higher-performing schools and highlight successful practices that improve outcomes for students. School districts receiving this distinction have demonstrated consistent high levels of student academic achievement, improvement in achievement levels over time and reduction in achievement gaps among student populations. 
 
“We are so proud of our schools and the district for being recognized by education and  business leaders in California,” said Murrieta Valley Unified School District Superintendent Pat Kelley.  “Our teachers and administrators work tirelessly to keep the focus on high expectations and student academic achievement and to continuously improve our practices. This hard work and dedication is paying off for all of our students, no matter their background.”   
 

Rail Ranch is Top School in U.S. in 2011 Math Challenge

 
Rail Ranch Elementary School took the top honors in the nationwide American Math Challenge, an online competition that took place October 26 and 27 that recorded more than 53.3 million correct answers from  800,000 participating students at 5,000 schools. 

The competition took place on an online platform called Mathletics, where students from around the country competed. Students won points for every correct answer.  

In addition to the school's top finish, three Rail Ranch classes drew honors in the class competition, finishing fourth, fifth and eleventh and seven Rail Ranch students finished in the top 100 nationwide. 

Scott Flansburg, The Human Calculator, visited Rail Ranch Elementary on December 1st as a reward for being the top-ranked school in the nation.  Demonstrating the skill that got him into the "Guinness Book of World Records," Flansburg added 78+78+78+78 more times in 15 seconds than fifth grade teacher Jack Mitchell could do on a calculator.   Flansburg also showed students a number of tips to help them "turn on the calculator in their brains."