Seven Peaks School Spanish teacher Jylan Maloy talked to a group of eighth-graders during a class in 2017. (Joe Kline/Bulletin file photo)

The best new thing coming to Bend-La Pine Schools are signs. About 400 of them.

The district has decided to bump up its celebration of academic excellence. Every student who gets the highest score on an Advanced Placement test or International Baccalaureate exam will get a sign. 

Delivering them all will be no small chore. Superintendent Steve Cook invited school board members on Tuesday night to help out, if they want. The program should launch in a few weeks, he told us.

The district had about 290 students who earned a 5 on an AP exam at the end of the school year, it told us. It had 14 who earned a 7 on an IB exam. Those are the top scores achievable on those tests. 

The other thing the district may do is to deliver signs to some 130 students who earned their “Seal of Biliteracy” in the past year.

A quick way to get into a fight in education is to highlight performance on standardized tests. Let’s not go there today.

Academic excellence needs to be celebrated. The district is taking a nice step to do so.