National Blue Ribbon Schools Program
The schools are urban, suburban, and rural, large and small, traditional and innovative, and serve students of every social, economic, and ethnic background.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.[1] States, territories, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the Department of Defense Education Activity schools have joined the competition over the years.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.David W. Kirkpatrick, the Senior Education Fellow at the US Freedom Foundation, noted in an editorial titled, "Awarding Blue Ribbons: Recognizing Schools or Students?"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.
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