The Delta Issue #58

The end of the National Blue Ribbon Program is not the end of excellence.

At the end of August, the U.S. Department of Education quietly ended the National Blue Ribbon Schools Program, closing the book on a decades-old tradition of recognizing public and private schools across the country for excellence.

Between 1982 when the program began and 2024 when the last awards were given, more than 9,000 schools nationwide earned a Blue Ribbon for student achievement in reading and math, top-tier graduation rates, and closing achievement gaps. The Blue Ribbon was a reminder that these things were worth celebrating.

In the context of everything that has changed in education this year, the end of a symbolic award program may seem trivial. But the Blue Ribbon served two significant purposes: First, it set the bar high for schools across the country and gave educators everywhere a goal to strive for. And second, to the teachers, principals, and administrators who were doing the hard work of improving the quality of the education in their schools, this kind of recognition brought an untold measure of satisfaction, pride, and motivation.

The Blue Ribbon program wasn’t the only way for schools to receive recognition — U.S. News & World Report has been ranking K-12 schools since 2007 — but it was the only one that set the standard for schools nationwide and came with the authority and significance of federal recognition.

States shouldn’t pass over the opportunity to define, measure, and reward excellence themselves.

State leaders should embrace the challenge to design recognition systems that are even clearer, more ambitious, and more useful to students, families, and educators than the Blue Ribbon was. Colorado is already doing this, having created several awards for high-performing schools, including the Governor’s Distinguished Improvement Award, the Governor’s Bright Spot Awards, and the Academic Growth Award. In Louisiana, where I was assistant state superintendent, we celebrated both the fastest growing and highest performing schools, and our leadership made a point to visit each of these schools individually. The state continues to celebrate Models of Excellence today.

Recognition isn’t just for the schools that are getting the highest scores for serving the kids who are easiest to serve. Growth, particularly for students from historically underserved groups, is just as important, if not more so — and to celebrate growth, you’ve got to measure it.

As we lay out in our Measurement Playbook, strong measurement systems aren’t about enforcing compliance — they are about ensuring states act with clarity and coherence in order to drive student improvement.

Set a clear vision for excellence. Define what should be true for kids in your state — from early literacy through postsecondary readiness. Make it specific, ambitious, measureable, and student-centered.
Measure what matters. Don’t wait until the end of the school year to understand how schools are doing, and don’t stop at test scores. Use a coherent system of assessments, accountability, and reporting that connects directly to the classroom.
Signal and celebrate success. Measurement systems are important for identifying the schools that need more support, but they also set the expectation for what’s possible and incentivize the field to deliver. Use recognition programs to elevate schools that are excelling and those that are making real progress.
Use the data to drive action. Recognition should be paired with action. States should use the results of their measurement systems to direct funding, professional learning, and coaching to support more students and schools to reach our high expectations.

State leaders are uniquely positioned to define what excellence looks like, to measure it fairly and clearly, and to celebrate schools that make material improvements in the lives of kids. The end of Blue Ribbon doesn’t mean the end of excellence. It means the responsibility now rests with states.