Bay Area schools are standing out in the state but not for good reasons.
California's Department of Education released its list of the state's "persistently low-achieving schools" Monday and the Bay Area is well-represented.
The list of about 190 schools includes more than a dozen Bay Area schools in five different regional counties.
The list, which is subject to approval by the state Board of Education, includes Bay Area schools in Alameda, Contra Costa, San Francisco, Santa Clara, Solano and San Mateo counties.
The schools on the list represent the bottom 5 percent of schools in the state based on state achievement exams and graduation rates, according to the Department of Education.
The review was supposed to improve California's chances of winning a Race to the Top grant from the Obama administration. But last week, the White House revealed California did not make the first cut of that program.
Under state and federal laws, the schools will be subject to a number of sanctions. They can close their doors, replace the principal, get rid of at least half the staff or reopen as an independently-run charter, or go for a less drastic option called the "transformation model" which requires schools improve teaching, leadership and instruction time without calling for staff changes.
Once the list is final, each school will be required under state and federal law to engage in one of four school intervention models by the 2010-2011 school year, according to the Department of Education.
The schools will also be eligible to apply for federal School Improvement Grants of $50,000 to $2 million each year for three years to implement the changes.
The state was required to identify the lowest performing schools by state law and by the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
An updated list will be posted on the department's Web site later today. That list will be reviewed Thursday by the state Board of Education and then be sent to the U.S. Department of Education for final approval.
