Many families have moved to this relatively little-known suburban neighborhood located in Eastern Ventura County specifically for the District's fine schools. One particular feature of Oak Park Unified School District is that it participates in California's District of Choice program (DOC), which allows students to attend school's outside of their home district. Approximately 40% of Brookside students live in surrounding school districts and areas such as Simi Valley, Conejo Valley, West San Fernando Valley, LAUSD and Las Virgenes. Each year, about 160 new-to-the-District elementary students enroll with about 74 being placed at Brookside. Brookside is an outstanding place for learning. It is ranked as one of the top elementary schools in California. The year 2012 was the last time that the state published the Academic Performance Index (API) score for California public schools and Brookside is proud to have earned a score of 954. Out of more than 130 elementary schools in Ventura County, Brookside earned the third highest overall API in the entire county. The school has been recognized as a National Blue Ribbon School by the U.S. Department of Education for meeting national standards for school excellence. We have also been named a California Distinguished School by the California State Department of Education and as a school with a well-articulated curriculum and an outstanding learning environment.