Metuchen’s Edgar Middle School Earns ‘Blue Ribbon’ For 2022

METUCHEN, NJ – Edgar Middle School in Metuchen won the prestigious national “Blue Ribbon” recognition for 2022, the U.S. Department of Education announced Friday.

The Department of Education released its latest list of National Blue Ribbon Schools, an annual effort that recognizes a school's overall academic performance, or progress in closing achievement gaps among student subgroups.

In total, 297 schools earned the honor nationally.

Edgar Middle School serves 712 students and provides “diverse programming, by fostering a positive and safe environment and embedding evidence-based social emotional learning (SEL) and metacognition across academic content areas as well as social and emotional contexts.”

“Building relationships with others is a major goal at EMS. One way we help students make connections with other students and adults is through our Advisory Program. Students meet Early on, our students learn the Metuchen Problem Solving Process, a metacognitive strategy they can use in all facets of their lives,” the school describes itself on the U.S. Department of Education website. “Students apply this process in all content areas such as interdisciplinary STEM projects in Science and Math, inquiry-based investigations and problem-based learning tasks in English, and social awareness lessons that help them evaluate current events from a variety of perspectives in Social Studies.”

With its 39th cohort, the National Blue-Ribbon Schools Program has bestowed approximately 10,000 awards to more than 9,000 schools.

"I applaud all the honorees for the 2022 National Blue Ribbon Schools Award for creating vibrant, welcoming, and affirming school communities where students can learn, grow, reach their potential, and achieve their dreams," Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said.

"As our country continues to recover from the pandemic, we know that our future will only be as strong as the education we provide to all of our children. Blue Ribbon Schools have gone above and beyond to keep students healthy and safe while meeting their academic, social, emotional, and mental health needs. These schools show what is possible to make an enduring, positive difference in students' lives."

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