Notre Dame Prep Named National Blue Ribbon School For 2020

TOWSON, MD — A Towson prep school is one of 50 non-public schools nationwide to earn the recognition of being named a National Blue Ribbon School for 2020. Notre Dame Preparatory School will be honored along with more than 360 schools at a virtual ceremony later this fall hosted by the U.S. Department of Education.

The U.S. Department of Education recognizes schools based on several metrics, including student scores and graduation rates, selecting those that are high-performing and closing achievement gaps.

“This is a tremendous honor that I am delighted to share with the entire Notre Dame Preparatory School Community," headmistress Sister Patricia McCarron, Ph.D., said in a statement. "This honor affirms the core mission tenets foundational to Notre Dame Prep, namely academic excellence, spiritual growth and the practice of justice."

The Catholic college preparatory school educates girls in grades six through 12. It has a 100 percent rate of graduates getting in to four-year colleges.

“For 147 years, Notre Dame Prep has, in the spirit of the School Sisters of Notre Dame, educated young women to transform the world," McCarron said.

Nationwide, 367 schools were recognized in this round — 317 public and 50 nonpublic schools.

The only other school in Baltimore County honored this year was Jacksonville Elementary.

Notre Dame Prep is one of 10 schools in Maryland to receive the National Blue Ribbon School honor this year:

• Bayside Elementary School, Stevensville
• Cash Valley Elementary School, LaVale
• Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School (non-public), Rockville
• Hampstead Elementary School, Hampstead
• Jacksonville Elementary School, Phoenix
• Lucy V. Barnsley Elementary School, Rockville
• Mount View Middle School, Marriottsville
• Notre Dame Preparatory School (non-public), Towson
• Our Lady Of Mercy School (non-public), Potomac
• Saint Peter's School (non-public), Olney

For nearly four decades, the National Blue Ribbon program has awarded nearly 10,000 honors to approximately 9,000 schools. Each year, up to 420 schools can be nominated, and a school is eligible after five years.

This is Notre Dame Prep’s third time being named a National Blue Ribbon School. It also received the honor in 1984–1985 and 2012–2013.

The 2020 National Blue Ribbon Schools Awards Ceremony will be held virtually Nov. 12 and 13.