Eligibility for Public Schools: the Secretary of Education invites each Chief State School Officer (CSSO), including the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) and the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE), to nominate those schools that meet the criteria for recognition. In submitting nominated schools, the CSSO of each state, BIE or DoDEA must certify that the nominated schools meet the minimum requirements established by the Department and describe any other criteria used by the state to nominate the schools. States must rely on their state assessment systems to identify schools for submission to the Secretary. The nomination criteria, including assessments, must pertain equally to all schools nominated from the individual state. DoDEA and BIE may also rely on the published norm-referenced tests available http://www2.ed.gov/programs/nclbbrs/applicant.html, Non-public School Assessment Information.

Eligibility for Non-Public Schools: the Secretary of Education invites the Council for American Private Education (CAPE) to nominate schools that meet the criteria for recognition. Non-public schools interested in being nominated should contact CAPE directly at www.capenet.org/brs.html. In submitting nominated schools, CAPE must certify that the schools meet the minimum requirements established by the Department and other criteria used to nominate schools.

Schools nominated for the National Blue Ribbon Schools must meet one of two eligibility criteria:

• Exemplary High Performing Schools: Regardless of the school's demographics or percentage of students from disadvantaged backgrounds, the school is high performing. These are schools that are ranked among a state's highest performing schools as measured by state assessments in both reading (English language arts) and mathematics or that score at the highest performance level on tests referenced by national norms in at least the most recent year tested.

  • For Public Schools, "high performing" is defined by the CSSO of each state, but at a minimum means (a) that the achievement of the school's students in the most recent year tested places the school among the highest performing schools in the state on state assessments of reading (or English language arts) and mathematics, and (b) disaggregated results for student subgroups, including students from disadvantaged backgrounds, must be similar to the results for all students tested. In addition, one-third of the schools nominated by each state must be schools with at least 40 percent of their students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Public schools must also make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) two years prior to nomination and also in the year of their recognition.
  • For Non-Public Schools, "high performing" means (a) that the achievement of the school's students in the most recent year tested places the school among the highest performing schools in the nation in reading (or English language arts) and mathematics as measured by a nationally normed test or among the highest in its state as measured by a state test. If a private school administers both state test and nationally normed tests, the school must be among the highest in both. (b)Disaggregated results for student groups, including students from disadvantaged backgrounds, must be similar to the results for all students tested.

• Exemplary Improving Schools: These are schools with at least 40 percent of their students from disadvantaged backgrounds that have reduced the achievement gap by making the most progress in improving student performance in reading (English language arts) and mathematics on state assessments or tests referenced by national norms in at least the most recent year tested.

  • For Public Schools, "Made the most progress" is defined by the CSSO of each state but, at a minimum, means: (a) the school is among the schools that have shown the greatest improvement in student achievement in the state over the previous five years on state assessments of reading (or English language arts) and mathematics, and (b) disaggregated results for student subgroups, including students from disadvantaged backgrounds must show improvement similar to that of all students.
  • For Non-Public Schools, "Made the most progress" means: (a) the school is among the schools that have shown the greatest improvement in student achievement in the nation over the previous five years in reading (or English language arts) and mathematics as measured by nationally normed assessments (If a non-public school administers both state tests and nationally normed tests, the school must be among the schools that have shown the greatest improvement in both.), and (b) disaggregated results for student subgroups, including students from disadvantaged backgrounds, also must show improvement similar to that of all students. Please note: schools that must rely on norm-referenced tests to qualify as an Exemplary Improving School, i.e., have not administered state tests, will not be able to apply for the 2012 award. The National Blue Ribbon Schools Program is carefully studying how best to measure "greatest improvement" based on national norms for the different available norm-referenced tests.