California Schools to Watch
Los Osos Middle School
Awarded the State and National Schools to Watch Award
On January 29, 2018 State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom
Torlakson announced 22 new high-performing California middle schools were being
recognized in the 2017–18 Schools to Watch-Taking Center Stage program. One of the
schools selected to receive this honor is Los Osos Middle School.
Los Osos Middle School is the first and only middle school in San Luis Obispo County
to have earned this honor. In June, the school will be acknowledged in Washington, DC
as a National School to Watch.
“We are thrilled to receive this designation,” said Principal Andre Illig. “Our staff and
students worked very hard in an exciting and challenging middle school program to
demonstrate strong student achievement.”
Over the past four years, Principal Illig created a strong teacher team who
collaboratively embraced excellence and academic rigor in all areas. Los Osos Middle
School emerged not only as a consistent leader in academic achievement scores, but
also social equity and developmental responsiveness for adolescent learners.
Dr. Irvin Howard, Past-President of the National Forum to Accelerate Middle Grades
Reform, noted, “Los Osos Middle School is a model of what an outstanding middle
school can be. School leaders from across the state will now turn to Los Osos Middle
School for guidance on improving their programs to better serve their students.”
Los Osos Middle School serves 600 students in grades six through eight in San Luis
Coastal Unified School District. California’s Schools to Watch-Taking Center Stage
program uses a competitive and rigorous review process to identify high-performing,
high-impact middle schools so all middle schools may have models of real-world success.
Los Osos Middle School is one of just of 112 schools identified statewide since 2003.
