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The National Blue Ribbon Schools Program is a
United States Department of Education The United States Department of Education is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government. It began operating on May 4, 1980, having been created after the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare was split into the Departmen ...
award program that recognizes exemplary
public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...
and non-public schools on a yearly basis. Using standards of excellence evidenced by student achievement measures, the Department honors high-performing schools and schools that are making great strides in closing any achievement gaps between students. The U.S. Department of Education is responsible for administering the National Blue Ribbon Schools Program, which is supported through ongoing collaboration with the National Association of Elementary School Principals, Association for Middle Level Education, and the
National Association of Secondary School Principals The National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) is a national organization of and voice for middle level and high school principals, assistant principals, and aspiring school leaders from across the United States and more than 45 ...
. Since the program's founding in 1982, the award has been presented to more than 9,000 schools. National Blue Ribbon Schools represent the full diversity of American schools: public schools including
Title I school The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) was passed by the 89th United States Congress and signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on April 11, 1965. Part of Johnson's " War on Poverty", the act has been one of the most far-re ...
s, charter schools, magnet schools, and non-public schools including
parochial Parochial is an adjective which may refer to: * Parishes, in religion ** Parish churches, also called parochial churches * Parochial schools, primary or secondary schools affiliated to a religious organisation * Parochialism Parochialism is the ...
and independent schools. The schools are urban, suburban, and rural, large and small, traditional and innovative, and serve students of every social, economic, and ethnic background.


History

In 1982, then-Secretary of Education Terrel H. Bell, best known for commissioning ''
A Nation at Risk ''A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform'' is the 1983 report of the United States National Commission on Excellence in Education. Its publication is considered a landmark event in modern American educational history. Among othe ...
'', described a “rising tide” of mediocre schools that threatened the nation’s future. Secretary Bell created the National Blue Ribbon Schools Award to bring exemplary U.S. schools to public attention and to recognize those schools whose students thrived and excelled. Working with the National Association of Elementary School Principals and the
National Association of Secondary School Principals The National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) is a national organization of and voice for middle level and high school principals, assistant principals, and aspiring school leaders from across the United States and more than 45 ...
, Bell launched the National Blue Ribbon Schools and the National Distinguished Principals Programs. Both programs highlighted outstanding models of American schools and school leadership. Initially, the National Blue Ribbon Schools program honored only secondary schools; it was later expanded to include primary schools. It was changed again to honor
secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...
s and
primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...
s in alternate years and now honors secondary, middle, elementary, and K-8 and K-12 schools each year. In 2003, the program was restructured to bring it in line with the No Child Left Behind Education Law, placing a stronger emphasis on state assessment data and requiring schools to demonstrate high academic success. Schools must show how data are interpreted and used and how curriculum, instruction, professional development, and student support promote student success. In 2012 the program was renamed the National Blue Ribbon Schools program to distinguish it from a
for-profit company A for-profit corporation is an organization which aims to earn profit through its operations and is concerned with its own interests, unlike those of the public (non-profit corporation). Structure A for-profit corporation is usually an organizatio ...
which had appropriated the Blue Ribbon School name. During its first 25 years of existence, the National Blue Ribbon Schools Award was granted approximately 5,600 times, recognizing 5,200 different schools. (Some schools have been selected two or more times.) More than 133,000 public, charter, private and parochial schools serving grades K-12 are eligible for the award. More than 9,000 schools have been honored as National Blue Ribbon Schools — with more than 10,000 awards given in total — since the program's inception. States, territories, the
Bureau of Indian Affairs The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), also known as Indian Affairs (IA), is a United States federal agency within the Department of the Interior. It is responsible for implementing federal laws and policies related to American Indians and A ...
, and the
Department of Defense Education Activity The Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) is a federal school system headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, responsible for planning, directing, coordinating, and managing prekindergarten through 12th grade educational programs on behal ...
schools have joined the competition over the years. Special emphases have changed from year to year based on national priorities. Among National Blue Ribbon Schools there is much diversity: the award recognizes rural, urban, and suburban schools; large and small schools, and public and non-public schools.


Criteria

The National Blue Ribbon Schools Program accepts nominations of both public and non-public schools that meet one of two criteria: *Exemplary High Performing Schools are among their state’s highest performing schools as measured by state assessments or nationally normed tests. *Exemplary Achievement Gap-Closing Schools are among their state’s highest performing schools in closing achievement gaps between a school’s subgroups and all students over the past five years. Eligible schools must have been in existence for five years and cannot have received the award within the five prior years. Must have excellence in the fields of academics, arts and athletics.


Application procedure

Although at one time schools self-nominated for the award, this is no longer the case. At the invitation of the U.S. Secretary of Education, Chief State School Officers (including
Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morg ...
, the
Department of Defense Education Activity The Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) is a federal school system headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, responsible for planning, directing, coordinating, and managing prekindergarten through 12th grade educational programs on behal ...
, the Bureau of Indian Education) and the
Council for American Private Education A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or nat ...
nominate eligible schools for the annual award. Eligible schools must demonstrate high or strongly improving student scores on state or nationally normed assessments in the last year tested; schools must also make Annual Yearly Progress in accordance with No Child Left Behind. Nominated schools submit applications describing school operations such as the use of assessments and assessment data, instructional methods, curricula, professional development, leadership, and community and family involvement. A total of 420 schools may be nominated in any year; state quotas are determined by numbers of students and schools. The Blue Ribbon award is considered the highest honor an American school can achieve. A school's use of th
National Blue Ribbon Schools logo
is restricted.


Criticism

David W. Kirkpatrick, the Senior Education Fellow at the US Freedom Foundation, noted in an editorial titled, "Awarding Blue Ribbons: Recognizing Schools or Students?" that criteria for the awards do not take into account the
socioeconomic status Socioeconomic status (SES) is an economic and sociological combined total measure of a person's work experience and of an individual's or family's economic access to resources and social position in relation to others. When analyzing a family's ...
of the students and that studies show that students who come from homes with higher income and better educated parents do better than students without these advantages by virtue of their backgrounds. Thus, the award is usually given to schools with students from wealthy backgrounds. As evidence to support his case, he pointed to the distribution of awards given in Pennsylvania one year; of the eight schools receiving the award, only one was in a district whose income level was near the state average, and the rest went to districts with an above average income, including two in the wealthiest communities in the state. While Kirkpatrick proposed an alternative to recognizing "blue ribbon students", he wrote, "...a more accurate indication of a good school would be one that adjusts for such
socioeconomic Socioeconomics (also known as social economics) is the social science that studies how economic activity affects and is shaped by social processes. In general it analyzes how modern societies progress, stagnate, or regress because of their l ...
factors and identifies those in which students do better than would normally be expected, based on their backgrounds." From the program's inception through 2003, schools were permitted to nominate themselves. As of 2003, nominations are handled through a state liaison which schools must contact for nomination.Frequently Asked Questions – Blue Ribbon Schools Program
/ref> The program has also been criticized for assessment of schools coming from the school itself rather than an independent third party and a nomination and assessment process that favors schools with the know-how and resources to complete the review assessment.


See also

* No Child Left Behind *
United States Department of Education The United States Department of Education is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government. It began operating on May 4, 1980, having been created after the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare was split into the Departmen ...


References


External links

* {{Official website, http://nationalblueribbonschools.ed.gov/
Searchable list of winning schools


Education in the United States United States Department of Education 1982 establishments in the United States Awards given to schools