Forbes Magazine ranks MBUSD sixth overall district in nation

By Joani Gillam
and Maggie Robak
Staff Writers

In its “Best Schools for Your Real Estate Buck” list released on April 26, Forbes Magazine ranked the Manhattan Beach Unified School District as the best school district for median real estate values of $800,000 and up and sixth overall best school district in the nation.

Forbes drafted the ranking in partnership with GreatSchools, a non-profit organization with the aim of bettering the quality of education in public schools.

Forbes, in conjunction with GreatSchools, evaluated more than 200,000 public school districts in 17,589 towns, in all states except Nebraska. The Forbes ranking was based on test scores, such as API scores and standardized test scores, as well as the academic progress of randomly selected students.

“[The Forbes news] came to us as a total surprise,” Mira Costa Principal Ben Dale said. “It’s spectacular. It really highlights the excellence of Mira Costa as a school.”

To assess MBUSD and other school districts, GreatSchools also used the most recent data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, which is reported twice a year by the Institute of Education Statistics under the Department of Education. GreatSchools ranked Mira Costa High School and all other MBUSD schools 10 out of 10 in education quality.

“I think it’s really great for the district,” junior Christine Inouye said. “I believe it accurately reflects the education we receive here at Mira Costa, which many students take for granted.”

This honor came to MBUSD two weeks after Mira Costa was selected as one of 97 public schools to be recognized as a California Distinguished School by State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson.
“The recognition from Forbes and from being named a 2011 California Distinguished School just proves that when our school and our students perform well, everyone benefits,” Dale said.

MBUSD and community leaders say that the Forbes report will have a positive effect on the district by attracting new homeowners with resources and means in addition to lending prestige to the schools themselves.

“This honor will encourage others to move into the district,” Dale said. “These new community members will be highly involved in the schools and will have a positive effect on the district. The value of our community will increase because of this ranking in Forbes.”