The success of John Wash derives, in part, from grade-level Professional Learning Communities that use assessment results to guide instruction and intervention. Essential standards are assessed through summative, district-wide, and grade-level assessments administered three times a year as well as weekly, formative grade-level assessments created by each PLC. Teams share accountability for all students’ success Read More
Wesley Sever, a 2009 recipient of the National Blue Ribbon Schools’ Terrel H. Bell Award for exemplary educational leadership, begins his second school year as Superintendent of Kingsburg Elementary Charter School District in central California, about 15 miles south of 2009 National Blue Ribbon School John Wash Elementary, in Sanger, California, where Dr. Sever was Read More
Each year, the National Blue Ribbon Schools Program visits selected schools to capture their stories. Produced as audio slideshows, these school profiles feature the voices and images of principals, teachers, students, parents, and community members as they offer first-person perspectives on what makes their schools strive for—and achieve—excellence. The six schools profiled among the 2009 Read More
Beeville, Texas Beeville, a small rural community in south Texas, changed dramatically in the early 1990’s when the area’s major employer, the Chase Field Naval Air Station, closed. Five area prisons became Beeville’s major employer; newcomers included prison staff, inmates, and their families. Faced with a funding gap, the Catholic dioceses threatened to close the Read More
East Baton Rouge Parish School System East Baton Rouge, Louisiana With its concrete slabs, flat roof, and retrofitted spaces, the Sherwood Middle Academic Magnet School facility is the antithesis of the life within. Spend five minutes inside and you are witness to a community of high-expectations and vibrant and well-designed learning opportunities. Drawing from 35 of the Read More
Broward County School District Pompano Beach, Florida Take a dynamic staff, a spacious and well-lit building, high standards, and motivated students, and the odds of having a superior high school dramatically increase. To that combination Pompano Beach High School, a magnet school in the seaside Florida city of that name, adds an innovative, four-day schedule Read More
Sanger Unified School District Fresno, California Five years ago, John Wash Elementary School was struggling to accommodate a rapidly growing, increasingly diverse student population. Today, it is a California Distinguished School and a 2009 U.S. Department of Education National Blue Ribbon School, driven by high expectations, shared accountability, and a focus on learning outcomes. “We Read More
Taunton Public Schools Taunton, Massachusetts Three-fifths of the 350 Kindergarten through fourth-grade students who attend Hopewell Elementary School qualify for federally subsidized meals. Despite challenges, in 2009 Hopewell placed among the top ten percent of elementary schools in Massachusetts, a state with among the most rigorous education standards in the country. Principal Thomas Quigley has Read More
Dougherty County School District Albany, Georgia The approach to the Alice Coachman Elementary school is a sweeping circular driveway that leads to the front of the school. On school mornings, the driveway is crowded with parents delivering their children to school. Each car and every child is met by a member of the school staff Read More
The links below will download .zip files containing presentations from the 2009 Ceremony. Click on the link to download the file. At the Core of No Child Left Behind is the Demand to Close the Achievement Gap, and Have All Children Reach Their Potential. Is that possible? John S. Wash Elementary School Fresno, CA Looking Read More