DAVIS MIDDLE SCHOOL NAMED IN TOP 10 SHORTLIST FOR WORLD’S BEST SCHOOL IN 2024

COMPTON, CA (June 14, 2024)—Davis Middle School, in the Compton Unified School District, has been named in the Top 10 shortlists for the World’s Best School Prizes 2024 for Innovation. The World’s Best School Prizes, founded by T4 Education in collaboration with Accenture, American Express, and the Lemann Foundation, are the world’s most prestigious education prizes. This year’s winners will share a $50,000 prize fund.

A special celebration was held on Monday, June 17th, to celebrate this great achievement. Students, teachers, parents, administrators, and the community of Compton came together for this celebration.

Davis Middle School is the only school from the United States selected in the Top 10 in the Innovation category. The category includes schools from Brazil, Italy, Chile, and several other countries.

The five World’s Best School Prizes – for Community Collaboration, Environmental Action, Innovation, Overcoming Adversity, and Supporting Healthy Lives – were established in the wake of COVID in 2022 to give a platform to schools that are changing lives in their classrooms and far beyond their walls, sharing their best practices to help improve education everywhere.

The winners of the five Prizes will be chosen by an expert Judging Academy based on rigorous criteria. In addition, all 50 shortlisted schools across the five Prizes will also participate in a Public Vote, which opened today. The school that receives the most public votes will receive the Community Choice Award and membership to T4 Education’s Best School to Work program to help it support teacher well-being and solve the teacher recruitment and retention crisis. 

“Unless we solve the urgent challenges global education faces – from learning gaps exacerbated by COVID to chronic underfunding and the growing teacher wellbeing, recruitment and retention crisis – we will have failed the next generation, said Vikas Pota, Founder of T4 Education and the World’s Best School Prizes.

“Trailblazing schools like Davis Middle School have cultivated a strong culture and aren’t afraid to innovate, show the difference that can be made to so many lives. Schools everywhere can now learn from their solutions, and it’s time governments do so as well.”

About Davis Middle School:

Davis Middle School, in the Compton Unified School District, exemplifies transformative education, going from a school afflicted by unruly behavior to an exemplar of academic excellence and innovation, now serving as a beacon within the community and boasting a student body of 474.

Davis scholars and their innovative projects have been recognized with numerous awards on both a national and international level, such as the Ciena World Challenge Award Winners 2023 and 2024, the City of STEM Competition Los Angeles Winners 2024, the 3rd Place STEAMFest Competition 2024, and many more.

Under former Principal Patrick Sullivan’s strategic leadership and continued by now Principal Carol Hsini, the school initiated profound changes, including the establishment of a STEM academy. The school’s emphasis on Project-Based Learning (PBL) is supported by substantial technological investments courtesy of partnerships with Verizon and Digital Promise. These initiatives have equipped every student with an iPad and provided access to five state-of-the-art Verizon labs, complete with virtual reality setups and 3D printers.

The impact of these changes has been substantial. Disciplinary issues have plummeted, with the school witnessing a dramatic shift from frequent conflicts to a harmonious environment enhanced by in-person mental health support and effective conflict resolution programs. Moreover, innovative incentives like a gaming room and community-centric initiatives such as cooking shows have fostered a strong sense of belonging and active engagement among students and parents alike.

These efforts have not only improved immediate school culture but also led to remarkable academic achievements. Attendance rates have soared, absenteeism dropping to just 2%, and student performance has climbed from the lowest in the district to top percentile rankings. Even amidst the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, the school’s commitment to excellence and community support has continued unabated.

Cultural responsiveness is also key in the school’s curriculum, ensuring it resonates with the students’ diverse backgrounds, thus enhancing engagement and academic performance. Through initiatives like the Mars Habitat Project, recognized in the International Ciena World Challenge Award 2023 and 2024, students connect classroom learning with global and local issues, fostering practical and impactful solutions.

Next steps:

The Top 3 finalists for each of the five World’s Best School Prizes will be announced in September 2024, followed by the winners in November. Vote for Davis here: https://vote.worldsbestschool.org/public-vote-2024/entry/1350

The winner of each Prize will be chosen based on rigorous criteria by a Judging Academy comprising distinguished leaders worldwide, including academics, educators, NGOs, social entrepreneurs, government, civil society, and the private sector.

The five prize winners will share a prize of US$50,000, with each receiving an award of US$10,000. Meanwhile, the Community Choice Award winner, as determined by the Public Vote, will receive membership to Best School to Work—an independent, evidence-based mechanism to certify schools for their culture and working environment. Membership comes with detailed feedback, actionable insights, and benchmarking data to help schools transform their culture to attract and retain the best teachers.

ABOUT T4 EDUCATION:

We believe every child, everywhere, deserves a good education. To achieve this, we are building the world’s largest community of teachers and schools. Together. Our digital media platform provides opportunities for educators to network, collaborate, share good practices, and support each other’s efforts to improve learning and school culture. We work to amplify teachers’ voices because the world we want to see will only be built by listening to those at the heart of education.

Compton Unified School District contact: John Stouffer, [email protected]

T4 contact: Salman Shaheen, [email protected]