When state training chiefs have met at conferences or talked on the cellphone in current months, the National Blue Ribbon Schools program has been a standard subject of dialog.
The 43-year-old federal program acknowledged a whole lot of faculties every year for tutorial excellence or narrowing gaps in scholar efficiency. But the Trump administration ended its position in it over the summer time, “in the spirit of returning education to the states.”
In the months since, plenty of states have rolled out their very own Blue Ribbon packages. At least 18 have created their very own recognition packages, and a minimum of 4 have honored the colleges the federal program would have acknowledged. But some states are weighing whether or not the popularity is value persevering with with out the particular enhance of the federal honor.
“We want to make sure that we are continuing to celebrate schools that don’t just meet expectations but exceed them for every learner, that do it because they’re valuing the whole child and setting up that environment, and also recognizing what the communities have done,” mentioned Carrie Rowe, the performing secretary of training in Pennsylvania. “I think that’s a common thread, each of the state chiefs that I’ve spoken with, that we share in common.”
Blue Ribbon Schools program acknowledged excellence at nationwide stage
The Blue Ribbon Schools program was launched in 1982 by then-Secretary of Education Terrel H. Bell to acknowledge colleges for prime efficiency. Winning principals had been honored in a White House ceremony. Though this system has modified varieties and faced funding cuts, it acknowledged colleges throughout the nation, each private and non-private, for 4 a long time.
But the Trump administration instructed state training chiefs in an August letter it could sever this system completely, and inspired states to “creatively fashion” new recognition packages.
The resolution marked another minimize from a shrinking U.S. Department of Education that has eliminated half its staff, ended hundreds of in-progress contracts and grants, and proposed to end dozens of grant programs since President Donald Trump took workplace in January. The administration has incessantly mentioned its actions, with an end goal of eliminating the Education Department, are half of a bigger challenge of “returning education to the states.”
“State leaders are best positioned to recognize excellence in local schools based on educational achievements that align with their communities’ priorities for academic accomplishment and improvement,” Madi Biedermann, principal deputy assistant secretary for communications and outreach, wrote within the Aug. 29 letter. “Awards conceived by those closest to the communities and families served by local schools will do more to encourage meaningful reforms than a one-size-fits-all standard established by a distant bureaucracy in Washington, D.C.”
Just days later, Connecticut launched its personal recognition program. Others have since adopted go well with. In the previous week alone, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan and North Carolina have introduced their colleges which can be receiving the state-level, Blue Ribbon-equivalent honor.
The nationwide recognition was significant for colleges
The Maryland state division of training rapidly determined to revive its state-level Blue Ribbon Schools program that had been dormant for the reason that 2019-20 faculty yr, partially to honor the colleges the state had already nominated for the 2025 honor when the federal Education Department pulled the plug.
“I know how much it means to those school communities,” Raven Hill, the division’s govt director of communications, mentioned of the nationwide recognition. “A lot of times those were considered to be the crown jewels of a particular school system, so it was disappointing and, frankly, it hurt when we got the email saying that the program was ending immediately.”
The colleges nominated for the 2025 nationwide honor this yr will probably be acknowledged in the course of the state Board of Education’s assembly on Nov. 4. They will even obtain a Maryland Blue Ribbon School banner to show on campus.
In the approaching years, colleges will probably be thought of for Maryland’s Blue Ribbon honor based mostly on scholar scores on nationwide and state assessments and their work to slim efficiency disparities, Hill mentioned, although the state continues to be creating particular benchmarks and tips.
“There was no question as to whether we would launch the state program,” Hill mentioned. “The only issues to be sorted out were how it would look.”
The recognition is significant for educators, college students, and households, mentioned Michelle Reid, superintendent of Virginia’s Fairfax County colleges, the place an elementary faculty acquired nationwide Blue Ribbon honors final yr.
“I think that the federal recognition of excellence in public education is critical, and as the federal government stops their cheerleading for excellence in public education, I think it really weakens the power and promise of public education in this country,” she mentioned.
Pennsylvania will honor its recipients at a dinner in December, in lieu of the popularity they’d in any other case obtain in Washington.
“I think we need to stop and recognize that what individual schools have done, in the Blue Ribbon case, is extraordinary,” Rowe mentioned. “They are statistically, significantly different than their peers, and taking some time to show that we value that difference and to look at how that difference might be replicated in other places that share similar contextual features is really important.”
Rowe mentioned the state would, for now, proceed to make use of the metrics established by the federal authorities for choosing its colleges, nevertheless it wouldn’t rule out adjustments sooner or later.
Among different standards, public colleges acknowledged as exemplary high-performing colleges needed to rating within the high 15% within the state for studying, math, or each, and excessive colleges’ commencement charges needed to rank within the high 15%. Those acknowledged for closing gaps in efficiency had been acknowledged for particular scholar subgroups’ enchancment. At least a 3rd of the colleges states nominated needed to have excessive percentages of deprived college students.
Private colleges had been judged based mostly on college students’ efficiency on nationwide assessments such because the SAT and ACT and state assessments if college students participated.
“There’s been a complete abdication of responsibility for supporting public schools, and it’s unprecedented. It’s irresponsible,” mentioned Martin Torres, the deputy governor for training in Illinois, which can honor 28 private and non-private colleges at a spring occasion. “So this is an example of how states are picking up where the federal government has left off. But there is no substitute for the federal government, and while the federal government ignores public school students, the state of Illinois is stepping up.”
In asserting 4 colleges as inaugural Blue Ribbon colleges on Oct. 29, the Iowa division of training said in a statement that it was “well positioned to lead this program as a state initiative.”
An honor from the U.S. Department of Education carried particular that means
Part of the magic of the Blue Ribbon colleges program was that it got here from the federal authorities, mentioned Randy Watson, commissioner of training in Kansas.
“While we will continue with state recognition, and we try in all of our state recognition programs to make that a great honor, this was just on top of that, and it’s really sad to see that go away,” he mentioned.
Kansas is recognizing its Blue Ribbon colleges this yr, however will determine whether or not to proceed one thing beneath the Blue Ribbon mantle sooner or later. The state already honors colleges, and has a culminating annual occasion to rejoice faculty districts and faculty boards. It should weigh whether or not to maintain the extra program.
“We don’t disagree that education is left to the states. That doesn’t mean that the federal [government] can’t have a recognition program, though, to recognize that—and outstanding students in some of the other programs,” Watson mentioned.
“And so I would really ask them to reconsider, because I think they can send a powerful message that the work that’s happening in these states and these schools is meaningful, and that other people outside of each individual state recognize that.”