National Blue Ribbon Schools Program

The National Blue Ribbon Schools Program was a United States Department of Education award program that recognized exemplary public and non-public schools on a yearly basis. Using standards of excellence evidenced by student achievement measures, the Department honored high-performing schools and schools that were making great strides in closing any achievement gaps between students. The program was discontinued on August 29, 2025.

The U.S. Department of Education is responsible for administering the National Blue Ribbon Schools Program, which is supported through ongoing collaboration with the National Association of Elementary School Principals, Association for Middle Level Education, and the National Association of Secondary School Principals. Since the program's founding in 1982, the award has been presented to more than 9,000 schools.

National Blue Ribbon Schools represent the full diversity of American schools: public schools including Title I schools, charter schools, magnet schools, and non-public schools including parochial and independent schools. The schools are urban, suburban, and rural, large and small, traditional and innovative, and serve students of every social, economic, and ethnic background.^{[citation needed]}

In 1982, then-Secretary of Education Terrel H. Bell, best known for commissioning A Nation at Risk, described a "rising tide" of mediocre schools that threatened the nation's future.

Secretary Bell created the National Blue Ribbon Schools Award to bring exceptional U.S. schools to public attention and to recognize those schools whose students thrived and excelled. Working with the National Association of Elementary School Principals and the National Association of Secondary School Principals, Bell launched the National Blue Ribbon Schools and the National Distinguished Principals Programs. Both programs highlighted outstanding models of American schools and school leadership.

Initially, the National Blue Ribbon Schools program honored only secondary schools; it was later expanded to include primary schools. It was changed again to honor secondary schools and primary schools in alternate years and now honors secondary, middle, elementary, and K-8 and K-12 schools each year. In 2003, the program was restructured to bring it in line with the No Child Left Behind Education Law, placing a stronger emphasis on state assessment data and requiring schools to demonstrate high academic success. Schools must show how data are interpreted and used and how curriculum, instruction, professional development, and student support promote student success.

In 2012 the program was renamed the National Blue Ribbon Schools program to distinguish it from a for-profit company which had appropriated the Blue Ribbon School name.

During its first 25 years of existence, the National Blue Ribbon Schools Award was granted approximately 5,600 times, recognizing 5,200 different schools. (Some schools have been selected two or more times.) More than 133,000 public, charter, private and parochial schools serving grades K 12 are eligible for the award. More than 9,000 schools have been honored as National Blue Ribbon Schools — with more than 10,000 awards given in total — since the program's inception.