Blog 4-The winner is....

Students usually don’t walk out of our class saying, “Great lesson, I really learned a lot today” and it is often that a teacher may go days without being told they are doing a good job. We tend to just keep working hard. The Department of Education is trying to recognize the schools for doing a job well done. The Blue Ribbon Award is a part of the No Child Left Behind and many schools are rewarded each year. I first heard about the Blue Ribbon Award when an elementary school in Harwood, ND received the award. I then came across an article from The Washington Post that revealed the schools that are receiving the 2009 Blue Ribbon Award and that made me research this award a little more.
The state nominates public schools and each state receives a certain number of nominations depending on the number of students per state. Schools can be nominated if they make significant gains on their state assessments and have a large population of disadvantaged students. Private schools can also be nominated by the Council for American Private Education. Schools who win the award receive a plaque and are recognized in Washington D.C.
At first I assumed the schools that were receiving the Blue Ribbon Award were schools with low numbers of special needs, schools with bigger budgets and high numbers of parent involvement but I was completely wrong. The Department of Education website shows that in order for school to be eligible for the award they must have 40% of their student population come from a disadvantaged background. After finding out this information and reading the article I have so much respect for the schools that have received this award. Many of the schools that are receiving the award were struggling and through positive administration or changes in parent involvement they were able to make changes. One of the examples credits their success to their principal for making changes in the school. Another example states that the support teachers received from parents helped raise their state assessment scores. I learned from the website that there were two more ND schools that received this honorable reward in 2008 and that has inspired me to think any school can reach this goal. I wonder if many educators know about this award and if it is something a teacher would find beneficial to strive for? I think it would be exciting to win a national award. What do you think your school needs to become a school to be nominated for this award? Do you need a stronger administration, more funds for curriculum or more input and support from home?
For more information on this award or to see the archives of past recipients check out the Department of Education website. I found it very interesting. The website also has documents you can read from the past winners about becoming a better school or the ideas they used. I found many of those very interesting. I thought the Charter Oak Primary School was a really good in-depth report. I would love to hear your comments on this award, do you think this will help school improve?