This year is the 39th for the National Blue Ribbon Schools Program, which has given out an estimated 10,000 awards to over 9,000 schools. This year, Fulton Academy here in Alpharetta was ranked among the schools in the Exemplary High Performing category.
Schools, particularly private schools, always want to include any academic awards or honors earned by their students or the school itself in materials sent to a brochure printing service.
Nominations are limited each year to 420 schools. Nominees are chosen by top education officials in not only the 50 U.S. states but also in the District of Columbia, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.
Two categories exist for the selection of a Blue Ribbon School. The Exemplary High-Performing Schools category contains the highest performing schools per nationally normed tests or state assessments in a state. The second category is the Exemplary Achievement Gap-Closing Schools, which contains the highest performing schools when it comes to narrowing the achievement gaps between other students according to student groups in the school.
Plus, schools are chosen based on graduation rates, subgroup student scores and student scores.
Miguel Cardona, the U.S. Secretary of Education commented in a news release:
“This year’s nominees ‘illustrate what is possible’ during tough times.”