CSBA recognizes and celebrates educational excellence among California schools at annual conference

CSBA recognizes and celebrates educational excellence among California schools at annual conference<_sc3a_dot _xmlns3a_sc="http://www.sitecore.net/sc">

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Jan. 3, 2025) - On Dec. 5, 70 programs from districts and county offices of education representing communities across the state received California's leading educational honor, the Golden Bell Award. The Golden Bell Awards, celebrating their 45th year, are presented by the California School Boards Association (CSBA) to promote excellence in public education and school board governance by recognizing outstanding programs and governance practices.

The awards reflect the depth and breadth of local educational agencies' programs and governance decisions supporting these programs that are necessary to address students' changing needs. The awards ceremony was part of CSBA's Annual Education Conference and Trade Show held from Dec. 5-7 in Anaheim. Awards spanned 22 of the 23 available categories, including addressing gaps in student outcomes, career technical education, family and community engagement, special education, student attendance and re-engagement strategies, using data to support student success and more.

"CSBA is proud to recognize innovative programs from local educational agencies around the state that make a difference in the lives of students," said CSBA CEO & Executive Director Vernon M. Billy. "The 2024 Golden Bell winners exemplify the creativity and performance our school districts and county offices of education can produce when given the flexibility to respond to local conditions and the needs of their unique student populations. This year's honorees are modeling programs and services that LEAs throughout California can emulate in order to more fully serve California's public school students."

To be eligible, programs submitted by LEAs must be data-driven, have made a difference for students in their community, be innovative or exemplary, have concepts that can be replicated, be sustainable over time and be connected to the governance board's vision.

A record 256 programs were submitted for judging in 2024. After an extensive and rigorous judging process completed by a 61-member judging panel, the final 70 submissions were identified as finalists to be validated by 61 members of CSBA's Delegate Assembly and other school board trustees.

View the full list of winners and program descriptions at https://publications.csba.org/golden-bell/golden-bell-awards-2024/.

To learn more about the Golden Bell Awards, visit http://awards.csba.org/golden-bell/.