If you visit the New Rochelle Board of Education web site or look at their letterhead or read their promotional material you will often see a phrase like “National Blue Ribbon award-winning public school system”.
I often wondered what a National Blue Ribbon was and when the last time it was that the school system won a National Blue Ribbon award
The National Blue Ribbon Schools Program of the U.S. Department of Education was founded in 1982 to recognize public and private elementary, middle, and high schools where students perform at very high levels or where significant improvements are being made in students’ academic achievement. The NBR web site states:
A National Blue Ribbon Schools flag overhead has become a mark of excellence in education recognized by everyone from parents to policy-makers in thousands of communities.
The U.S. Department of Education lists every school that has won the award.
Since 1982, Four schools in the New Rochelle public school system have won a National Blue Ribbon.
- New Rochelle High School (twice)
- Isaac E. Young Middle School
- Daniel Webster Magnet School
- William B. Ward Elementary School
It might give some readers pause that Albert Leonard Middle School has never won a National Blue Ribbon nor has Davis Elementary School.
That said, the way these National Blue Ribbon Awards are touted by the school district you would think they won these awards yesterday.
In fact, the last time a public school in New Rochelle won a National Blue Ribbon Award was almost two decades ago.
The most recent National Blue Ribbon Award winner is Isaac E. Young Middle School which won its award in the 1996-97 school year. To put that in context, that is the same year “Titanic” won 11 Oscars, Seinfeld was the #1 show on TV, the top song on the BillBoard charts was “Wannabe” by the Spice Girls and Princess Diana died in an automobile accident. John Denver, Jimmy Stewart, Notorious B.I.G. and Chris Farley also died that year.
New Rochelle High School won its first NBR Award in 1995-1996. Daniel Webster Magnet School won in 1993-94. William B. Ward Elementary School won in 1987-88, about 25 years ago or the last time Notre Dame Football were National Champions. New Rochelle High School was the first public school to win the award in 1983-84, more than 30 years ago when Ronald Reagan was in his first term.
The Isaac web page on the LHRIC web site has an image of the Blue Ribbon next to the words “A National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence” (the name of the award is “National Blue Ribbon”, the phrase “School of Excellence” was added by the District).
Two private schools in New Rochelle have also won National Blue Ribbon Awards: The Ursuline School won a National Blue Ribbon is 1984-85, 1994-96, and 2001-02. Iona Preparatory School won in 2001-02.
Lest readers imagine that New Rochelle just forgot to apply for this award over the past 20-30 years, a review of the Eligibility and Performance Award Criteria makes clear that New Rochelle schools are simply no longer eligible:
Public schools nominated for the National Blue Ribbon Schools award must meet one of two eligibility criteria:
1. Exemplary High Performing Schools: “High performing” is defined by the Chief State School Officers of each state, but at a minimum means:
- The performance of all tested students in the school in the most recent year tested in both reading (English language arts) and mathematics must be in the top 15 percent of all schools in the state when schools are ranked based on the performance of all tested students.
- For each of the school’s subgroups, the performance of all tested students in the subgroup in the most recent year tested in both reading (English language arts) and mathematics must be in the top 40 percent of all schools in the state when schools are ranked based on the performance of tested students in that subgroup.
- For the most recent year in which graduation rates are available in the state, the graduation rate of a high school must be in the top 15 percent of all high school graduation rates in the state.
2. Exemplary Achievement Gap Closing Schools: “Achievement gap closing” is defined by the Chief State School Officers of each state, but at a minimum means:
- The school must be in the top 15 percent of all schools in the state for both reading (English language arts) and mathematics based on its progress in closing achievement gaps between the school’s subgroups and the state’s all-students group over the past five years, comparing the most recent year to the earliest year.
- For each of the school’s subgroups, the performance of all tested students in the subgroup in the most recent year tested in both reading (English language arts) and mathematics must be in the top 40 percent of all schools in the state when schools are ranked based on the performance of tested students in that subgroup.
- For the most recent year in which graduation rates are available in the state, the graduation rate of each of a high school’s subgroups must be in the top 40 percent of all high school graduation rates for that subgroup in the state.
- The change in the performance of all tested students in the school over the past five years, comparing the most recent year to the earliest year, must not be less than the change in the performance of all tested students in the state in both reading (English language arts) and mathematics.
There comes a time when you cannot rest on your laurels and continue to promote a school based on winning an award that is older than all of the students in the school district (and many of the teachers and staff!). I think we are well past that time in New Rochelle.
What do you think?
