Both of Mountain View's middle schools and two of its high schools have been selected this month as California Gold Ribbon Schools, a new program that recognizes schools for showing gains in "academic content and performance standards" and temporarily takes the place of the California Distinguished Schools Program.

Crittenden and Graham Middle schools were chosen as two of 193 middle schools in the state for the award, and Mountain View and Los Altos high schools were among the 180 high schools honored. All the schools will be recognized at an awards ceremony at the Marriott Marquis in San Francisco on May 29.

Schools applied for the Gold Ribbon Award based on "a model program their school has adopted that includes standards-based activities, projects, strategies, and practices that can be replicated by other local educational agencies," according to a press release by the California Department of Education.

Los Altos High School was recognized for the school's "Learning in the Cloud" program, which includes a one-to-one ratio of students to digital devices and a greater use of cloud computing for learning in the classroom, according to a district press release. Assistant Principal Galen Rosen played a significant role in the implementation of the program as well as in the new "Bring Your Own Device" program.

The award also recognized Mountain View High School for its work with the nonprofit Equal Opportunity Schools, which helped the school identify first-generation students who could thrive in Advanced Placement and honors courses, which helped the school encourage hundreds of students to take more rigorous academic classes.