3 Chicago Schools Earn 2016 National Blue Ribbon Honors

CHICAGO, IL — Two Catholic schools and a city public school were named 2016 National Blue Ribbon Schools by the U.S. Department of Education on Wednesday.

St. Daniel the Prophet School in the Garfield Ridge neighborhood; Saint Juliana School in Edison Park; and Skinner North Elementary School in Goose Island were among the 21 public and private schools in Illinois and the 329 in the United States to receive the honor. Of the state's 21 Blue Ribbon schools, 16 were public and five were private. Last year, Illinois had 16 Blue Ribbon schools, and the state had 22 in 2014.

"Thank you for all your support of Skinner North Students!" said a statement about the honor posted on Skinner North's website. "Whether your family has been here since we opened in 2009, you are a new family in 2016, or anywhere in between, we thank you for all that you do."

In honor of the Blue Ribbon designation, the school has purchased T-shirts for all its students and will distribute them Thursday.

St. Daniel the Prophet also will be celebrating its award Thursday, Sept. 29, with a dress blue dress down day and no homework, according to the school's website.

Started in 1982, the Blue Ribbon honor recognizes schools for either overall academic excellence or for how quickly they are closing achievement gaps for low-income students. Schools can only be nominated for the honor once within a five-year period.

"The students, principals, teachers, families, and support staff who earned the National Blue Ribbon title this year model innovation and dedication for all of us working in public education, and they should be immensely proud of their hard work," State Superintendent of Education Tony Smith said in a statement. "I hope practitioners and leaders statewide look to our 2016 National Blue Ribbon Schools for tools and strategies to employ to better serve all students."

Skinner, along with the state's other Blue Ribbon public schools, received the Exemplary High Performing Schools designation, according to the Illinois State Board of Education. This means a school was in the top 15 percent of all schools in the state according to student performance ranking on the most recent English language arts and math state assessment tests or by performance on state assessment tests combined with other measures, including attendance or graduation rates.

The Blue Ribbon schools will be honored by the U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King during a ceremony Nov. 7 and 8 in Arlington, VA.

photo via Shutterstock

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