The Blue Ribbon Schools Program is a United States government program created in 1981 to honor schools which have achieved high levels of performance or significant improvements with emphasis on schools serving disadvantaged students. The program centers around a self-assessment conducted by the school followed by an establishment and implementation of an improvement plan.[1][2] The Blue Ribbon award is considered the highest honor an American school can achieve.[3][4][5][6]
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Established in 1982 by Secretary of Education Terrel Bell, the program first honored only secondary schools, and was expanded to include primary schools. It was then changed again to honor secondary schools and primary schools in alternate years. During its first 25 years of existence, 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.[7] There are over 133,000 public, charter, private and parochial schools serving grades K-12 that are eligible for the award.[8]
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), Holy Names Academy in Seattle, Washington (84-85, 90-91, 94-96, 01-02) and Edison Computech Middle School (90-91, 94-96, 01-02, 08-09).
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.
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 its 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 cannot have received the award within the five prior years.[9]
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 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."[10]
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.[2][11]
The program has also been criticized for assessment of schools coming from the school itself rather than an independent 3rd party and a nomination and assessment process that favors schools with the know-how and resources to complete the review assessment.[12]