5 Queens Schools Awarded 2023 National Blue Ribbon Honor

QUEENS, NY — A quintet of Queens schools are seeing blue — and that's a good thing.

Five Queens schools were among roughly 350 nationwide named last week as National Blue Ribbon Schools for 2023 by the U.S. Department of Education.

Here are the Queens honorees, along with links to their school profiles:

• PS 242 LP Stavisky Early Childhood School, 29-66 137th St., Flushing, NY. District: NYC Geographic #25 - Queens

• PS 244 The Active Learning Elementary School (TALES), 137-20 Franklin Ave., Flushing, NY. District: NYC Geographic #25 - Queens

• PS 205 Alexander Graham Bell, 75-25 Bell Blvd., Bayside, NY. District: NYC Geographic #26 - Queens

• PS 221 North Hills Elementary School, 57-40 Marathon Parkway, Little Neck, NY. District: New York City Geographic #26

• The Academy For Excellence Through The Arts, 10855 69th St., Forest Hills, NY. District: New York City Geographic #28

Miguel Cardona, the U.S. secretary of education, said the schools set a "national example" for what it means to raise the bar in education.

"The leaders, educators, and staff at our National Blue Ribbon Schools continually inspire me with their dedication to fostering academic excellence and building positive school cultures that support students of all backgrounds to thrive academically, socially, and emotionally," Cardona said.

This is the 40th year of the National Blue Ribbon Schools Program. About 10,000 awards have been handed out to more than 9,700 schools in that time.

Schools that receive the honor share certain characteristics, the education department said. School leaders share their vision of excellence and hold everyone to high standards. Additionally, the schools are effective, innovative, and value and support teachers and staff with professional learning. The schools also use data to drive instruction, and students strive for success.

The Department recognizes all schools in one of two categories, based on student scores and graduation rates:

Exemplary High-Performing Schools: These are among the state’s highest performing schools, measured by state assessments or nationally normed tests.

Exemplary Achievement Gap-Closing Schools: These are among the state’s highest performing schools in closing achievement gaps between a school’s student groups and all students.

All the Queens schools were named Exemplary High-Performing Schools.