SACRAMENTO, Calif. /California Newswire/ — Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today issued the following statement after the California State Board of Education voted to approve a list identifying five percent of the state’s persistently lowest-achieving schools as required by state and federal guidelines associated with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the School Improvement Grant program:

“We cannot be afraid to shine a light on the problems facing California’s education system. Identifying those schools that continuously fail our students is the first step in turning them around and fixing them to better serve the needs of our students. This is exactly the kind of action I fought for to improve our public schools and I am committed to pursuing further reforms to transform our education system, boost student achievement and ensure our children have all the resources they need to succeed.”

The bottom five percent of low-performing schools in the state must implement bold turnaround strategies. Schools identified are required to implement one of four school intervention models beginning in the 2010-11 school year in order to dramatically improve student achievement.

To view the list of schools identified as persistently lowest-achieving, and for more information about the identification process and four school intervention models, please visit: www.cde.ca.gov/ta/ac/pl/.