What is a Blue Ribbon School?

The Blue Ribbon Schools Program honors public and private K-12 schools that are either academically superior in their state or that demonstrate dramatic gains in student achievement.

Each year since 1982, the U.S. Department of Education has sought out schools where students attain and maintain high academic goals. Using standards of excellence evidenced by student achievement measures and the characteristics known from research to epitomize school quality, the Department celebrates schools that beat the odds.

High poverty, tough neighborhoods, tight budgets, teacher turnover, assessment fatigue, high percentages of English language learners, teachers unprepared for their instructional duties-schools have identified many reasons over the decades to explain their failure to teach all students successfully. At the same time, communities, states, and the nation have raised the bar, and the stakes, for school achievement.

With commitment, high energy, research-based knowledge of what works in schools, and the results of quality assessments, Blue Ribbon Schools have shown us the way over these and other hurdles.