Kudos to the 2009 Blue Ribbon Schools!!

What exactly is a Blue Ribbon School? Well we're glad you asked:) Your friends at Chocolate Chip have done the research for you.


"The Blue Ribbon Schools Program is a United States government program created to honor schools. The Blue Ribbon award is considered the highest honor an American school can achieve"

The Blue Ribbon Schools Program honors K-12 public and private schools that are either academically superior in their state or demonstrate dramatic gains in student achievement ... "these schools serve as models for other schools throughout the nation."



Blue Ribbon Schools "meet either of two assessment criteria...at least 40 percent of their students from disadvantaged backgrounds that dramatically improve student performance in accordance with state assessment systems; and it rewards schools that score in the top 10 percent on state assessments."




Sounds great doesn't it, well the program is criticised because the criteria doesn't "take into account the socioeconomic status of the students and that studies show that students who come from homes with higher income and better educated parents do better than students without these advantages by virtue of their backgrounds. Thus, the award is usually given to schools with students from wealthy backgrounds."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Ribbon_Schools_Program)

With this in mind, Chocolate Chip salutes the principals, students and families of three NY urban schools serving children of color on being selected as 2009 Blue Ribbon Schools:

Pennington School

Mount Vernon, NY

PS 31 Samuel F. Dupont - Magnet School
for the Arts & Humanities
Brooklyn, NY

PS 380 John Wayne Elementary School
Brooklyn, NY

Check out the link below for more details on the program and a complete listing of current and past recipients.

http://www.ed.gov/programs/nclbbrs/index.html