<NEWS RELEASE>

Roseville, MN – Six Minnesota schools are among 314 across the country to be named 2009 Blue Ribbon Schools by the U.S. Department of Education today (Tuesday, Sept. 15). Lakeville North was one of the six schools.

The award recognizes schools for helping students achieve at high levels and for making significant progress in closing the achievement gap.

The Minnesota public schools honored as 2009 Blue Ribbon Schools are:

·      
Remer Elementary, Remer

·      
Vandyke Elementary, Coleraine

·      
Math and Science Academy, Woodbury

·      
Delano Senior High School, Delano

·      
Jefferson Senior High School, Bloomington

·      
Lakeville North High School, Lakeville

A non-public school was also honored from Minnesota:

·      
Our Lady of Grace Catholic School, Edina.

"These Minnesota Schools are excelling and providing a premier education with high expectations and increased rigor to all students, said Education Commissioner Alice Seagren. "When we raise academic expectations, Minnesota students will rise to meet the challenge.”

The schools – 264 public and 50 private across the country – will be honored at an awards ceremony on November 3 at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, DC.  For the past 27 years, more than 6,150 of America's schools have received this award.

"These Blue Ribbon Schools have shown that all children can learn with appropriate supports,” U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said.  "They are producing outstanding results for their students. Some have shown dramatic improvements in places where students are overcoming the challenges of poverty, and others serve as examples of consistent excellence that can be a resource for other schools. They are places where improved teaching and learning benefits every student, and where students are challenged to meet high expectations with the active support of teachers, parents and the community.”

The award honors public and private elementary, middle and high schools that are either academically superior, or have made dramatic gains in student achievement and helped close gaps in achievement among minority and disadvantaged students.  The schools are selected based on one of three criteria:
     
1) Schools with at least 40 percent of their students from disadvantaged backgrounds that demonstrate dramatic improvement of student performance to high levels on state tests or nationally normed tests
     
2) Schools whose students, regardless of background, achieve in the top 10 percent of their state on state tests or in the case of private schools in the top 10 percent of the nation on nationally normed tests.     

3) Under No Child Left Behind, schools must make Adequate Yearly Progress, or AYP, in reading (language arts) and mathematics.  Each state – not the federal government – sets its own academic standards and benchmark goals.

A total of 413 schools nationwide can be nominated.  This number is determined based on the number of K-12 students and the number of schools in each state, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

The Chief State School Officer (CSSO) nominates public schools, and the Council for American Private Education (CAPE) submits private schools' nominations.  The schools are invited by the Secretary of Education to submit an application for possible recognition as a Blue Ribbon School.