Blue Ribbon Award

The National Blue Ribbon Schools Program is a program of the U.S. Department of Education and has honored America’s most successful public and private elementary, middle, and high schools since 1982. Since 2003, the program has recognized exemplary schools in two categories. (1) Exemplary High Performing – Schools where students achieve at very high levels and (2) Schools that have shown substantial improvement with high poverty populations or have narrowed subgroup achievement gaps.

FPD was named in the Exemplary High Performance category in the private schools division. To be named in the private schools category, FPD does not only compete against schools in the state, but also in the country.

Yes. For private schools to be eligible for a blue ribbon for exemplary high performance, students in each grade level must perform in the top 15% nationally on standardized tests. For public schools to be eligible, students must perform in the top 15% in the state on standardized tests.

In high performing schools, standardized test performance in each grade on mathematics and reading must place the school among the top 15% of schools nationally for private schools and in the state for public schools (the standard was 10% in 2003-2010). School divisions within K-12 schools may be considered separately as long as each division has a separate administrator. Schools must also be regionally accredited, have at least 100 students, and meet various other criteria.

The Council for American Private Education (CAPE) nominates private schools. CAPE may nominate up to 50 private schools nationally. The USDOE allows schools to be nominated again after 5 years. CAPE, however, gives priority to schools who have not received the award.

Each state is limited to a set number of public school nominations based on student population. CAPE may nominate up to 50 private schools nationally. A total of 417 schools may be nominated. There is no set number of awardees, but the total has ranged from 250 to 350 in recent years.

The USDOE allows schools to be nominated again after 5 years. CAPE, however, gives priority to schools who have not received the award or are in the impoverished population category since there are a large number of private schools in the top 15% nationally and only 50 may be nominated. Once awarded, schools may continue to use the designation indicating the year the award was earned. In K-12 schools (as is the case with FPD), divisions may be considered separately as long as the school has separate administrators for each division and it is clear to the public which division is being recognized by the award.