Explore the National Blue Ribbon Schools’ library of videos, podcasts, and written descriptions that showcase stand-out practices and school features that contribute to awardees’ success. Choose practice topics under the key areas and/or select a grade level of interest to display these resources.
We urge you to contact these and other National Blue Ribbon Schools to learn what great American schools are doing.
Written profiles of schools visited before 2009 appear on the USDE website.
Grade Level
Curriculum and Instruction
Student Supports
School Supports
Barret Traditional Middle School Louisville, KY Advancing Racial Equity Through Culturally Responsive Teaching. Like many schools across the nation, school leaders at Barret Traditional Middle School realized that they faced academic achievement gaps among students by race. With support from their district, and through the work of committed educators willing to address this difficult topic,… Continue Reading Audio: Advancing Racial Equity Through Culturally Responsive Teaching
Maxwell Air Force Base Elementary/Middle School Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama Supporting Highly Mobile Students at a Department of Defense School. Meeting the academic, social and emotional needs of highly mobile students is a challenge faced by many schools and districts. Teachers and school leaders at Maxwell Air Force Base Elementary/Middle School in Alabama are… Continue Reading Audio: Supporting Highly Mobile Students at a Department of Defense School
Challenge Center School, (Sioux Falls, SD). The Challenge Center offers an accelerated, enriched curriculum to high ability students in grades two through five. In English language arts, the school focuses on three writing genres: personal/fictional narratives, opinion, and informative. Each day, students have multiple opportunities to write. For example, students share their rough drafts, poems,… Continue Reading Developing Great Writers!
Murray Elementary School, (Murray, KY). Murray Elementary School’s teachers, staff, and administrators believe the key to student success is building relationships with families. For incoming kindergarten families, Murray Elementary starts the relationship building with children and families in November the year before children enter kindergarten. Murray sponsors a Future Tiger Night, where families come to… Continue Reading Transitioning Children and Families into Kindergarten
Lt. Col. Horrace Meek Hickam Elementary School, (Honolulu, HI). Hickam Elementary School is located on the Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Honolulu, Hawaii. Approximately 99% of the student population are military dependents. Students are highly transient due to military mobility. One of the biggest challenges military children face is integration into new communities and schools.… Continue Reading Aloha Transition Center for New Military-Dependent Students
Hancock Public School, (Hancock, MN). Hancock Public School is a K-12 Title I school in a small rural district located in west central Minnesota. Administration includes one principal, a part-time superintendent, and a part-time activities director. While all the small schools around the district have consolidated with other districts, the community takes great pride in… Continue Reading College and Career Readiness in a Small Rural School
Dayton Regional STEM School, (Kettering, OH). Dayton Regional STEM School offers students two years of Chinese as their foreign language in 9th and 10th grades, with an option for college credit. After two years, students may opt to take one or two years of Spanish or continue with Chinese. The foreign languages instructional approach encompasses… Continue Reading Students in International Multilingual Communities
Bayfield Elementary School, (Bayfield, WI). Bayfield Elementary School is located on the south shore of Lake Superior. Approximately, 80% of the student population are Anishinaabe (Native American).The school, working closely with the Red Cliff Tribe and the Red Cliff Indian Reservation, implements Ojibwe culture programming. Each grade level meets with a culture instructor once a… Continue Reading Integrating Native American Culture and Language
Communications High School, (Wall, NJ). Communications High School (CHS) is a choice vocational career academy. Career concentrations include: Digital Video, Visual Communications, Journalism, Communications Technology, and TV/Radio production. CHS uses a theme-based curriculum that continually engages students in projects with real-world applications. The courses provide students opportunities to utilize the skills they have learned in… Continue Reading Preparing Students for TV and Radio Broadcasting Careers
Timothy Christian High School, (Elmhurst, IL). Timothy Christian High School offers the Innovation and Design Lab (IDL) program, a sequence of four semester courses in which students apply design thinking to problem-solving. The first-semester course, IDL 1, teaches students the basics of design thinking while applying the use of various tools (e.g., 3D printers, laser… Continue Reading Innovation and Design Lab