Blue Ribbon Schools Program Totally Explained

Everything about The Blue Ribbon School totally explained

The Blue Ribbon Schools Program is a United States government program created to honor schools. The Blue Ribbon award is considered to be the highest honor that an American school can achieve.

History

Established in 1982 by Secretary of Education Terrell Bell, the program first honored only secondary schools. Then it was expanded to include primary schools. It was then changed again to honor secondary schools and primary schools in alternate years. The program recognized more than 3,000 schools from its inception through 1996, and currently cites nearly 300 schools per year out of 133,000 total schools K-12, although only those schools which meet the eligibility criteria and submit applications are considered.
Many have won the award multiple times, including four-time winners Catholic High School in Baton Rouge, Louisiana (88-89, 92-93, 97-98, 03-04), Crocker Middle School in Hillsborough, California (82-83, 88-89, 94-96, 04-05) Spartanburg High School in Spartanburg, South Carolina (82-83, 88-89, 92-93, 97-98), Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, Illinois (86-87, 90-91, 97-98, 01-02), Carmel Catholic High School in Mundelein, Illinois (84-85, 94-96, 01-02, 07-08), and Holy Names Academy in Seattle, Washington (84-85, 90-91, 94-96, 01-02).
States, territories, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the Department of Defense Education Activity schools have joined the competition over the years. Special emphases have changed from year to year based on national priorities.

Criteria

To be selected for recognition, a school conducts a self-evaluation -- a process that allows teachers, students, parents and community representatives to assess their strengths and weaknesses and develop strategic plans for the future. The school then submits a written application, including information on their progress toward achieving the National Education Goals. A review panel selects what they consider the most promising schools for site visits by experienced educators who submit reports on their findings. The review panel considers the reports and makes recommendations to the U.S. Secretary of Education, who announces the schools selected for recognition.
Eligible schools must have been in existence for five years and can't have received the award within the five prior years.

Statistics

During its 25 years of existence to date, from its inception in 1982 through the 2006 award year, the Blue Ribbon Schools Program has been awarded approximately 5,600 times. 5,200 different schools have been recognized, reflecting those schools that have been selected two or more times. There are over 133,000 public, charter, private and parochial schools serving grades K-12 that are eligible for the award. With 5,200 award recipients and 133,000 eligible schools, approximately 3.9% of schools nationwide have been recognized as Blue Ribbon Schools.

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 doesn't take into account the socioeconomic status 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 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 above average income, including two in the wealthiest community in the state.
Kirkpatrick proposed an alternative to recognizing "blue ribbon students"; he wrote, "Thus a more accurate indication of a good school would be one that adjusts for such socioeconomic factors and identifies those in which students do better than would normally be expected, based on their backgrounds."

Further Information

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