10 NYC Schools Selected as 2016 National Blue Ribbon Winners

NEW YORK, NY — Ten New York City schools have been included in 2016's National Blue Ribbon Schools, the U.S. Department of Education announced Wednesday.

Of the 10 schools, three each were located in Brooklyn and the Bronx, two in Manhattan and one each in Queens and Staten Island. Only four of the schools were public schools, with a healthy amount of charter schools on the list. Six city schools made the list of honorees last year.

Nationwide, 329 public and private elementary, middle and high schools were selected based on overall academic excellence or progress in closing achievement gaps, the Department of Education said.

The list of 2016 National Blue Ribbon schools:

• Big Apple Academy (Non-Public), Gravesend
• Excellence Girls Charter School, Bed-Stuy
• Icahn Charter School 4, Bronx
• P.S. 158 The Bayard Taylor School, Upper East Side
• P.S. 242 Leonard P. Stavisky Early Childhood School, Queens
• P.S. 35 The Clove Valley School, Staten Island
• P.S. 39 The Henry Bristow School, Park Slope
• Success Academy Bronx 1, Bronx
• Success Academy Harlem 4, Harlem
• University Prep Charter High School, Bronx

Of the 329 schools selected, 279 are public and 50 are private. All schools, including the New York winners, will be recognized at an awards ceremony in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 7 and 8. This is the 34th year the Department of Education has handed out the honors.

"National Blue Ribbon Schools are proof that we can prepare every child for college and meaningful careers," U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King Jr. said in a video message to honorees. "Your schools are on the cutting edge, pioneering innovative educational practices — professional learning communities, project-based learning, social and emotional learning, positive behavior systems — making you shining examples for your communities, your state and the nation."

According to the Department of Education, all schools are recognized in one of two performance categories, based on all student scores, subgroup student scores and graduation rates:

• Exemplary High Performing Schools are among their state's highest performing schools as measured by state assessments or nationally normed tests.
• Exemplary Achievement Gap Closing Schools are among their state's highest performing schools in closing achievement gaps between a school's subgroups and all students over the past five years.

Photo Credit: The Bayard Taylor School by Jim Henderson via Wikimedia Commons