Three elementary schools for military children have been recognized among the highest-performing schools in the nation, the U.S. Department of Education announced Monday.
Alconbury Elementary School at RAF Alconbury in the United Kingdom, Patch Elementary School at Army Garrison Stuttgart in Germany and E.A. White Elementary on Fort Benning, Georgia earned the prestigious Blue Ribbon Award for high academic performance.
“I am extremely proud of the hard work and dedication to student achievement shown at these three schools in earning National Blue Ribbon Award recognition,” Thomas Brady, director of Department of Defense Education Activity, said in a news release. “Their efforts exemplify the DoDEA mission of excellence in education for every student, every day, everywhere.”
The Blue Ribbon program recognizes public and private U.S. schools of all levels for high performance on state assessments or nationally normed tests, as well as schools that are successful in closing achievement gaps between student subgroups.
At Alconbury, students participate in innovative science, technology, engineering, arts and math initiatives that include the Cambridge environmental services and base engineers, according to information provided by DoDEA.
Patch was the first DoDEA elementary school to pilot a band program and also offers German immersion and Spanish as a foreign language.
Patch Middle School was recognized as a Blue Ribbon school in 2017.
E.A. White, which earned the highest scores in teaching and learning of any DoDEA school on its latest accreditation assessment, uses varied instructional approaches to meet students’ needs.
This year’s Blue Ribbon winners will be recognized at an awards ceremony in Washington, D.C., next month.
Military Times contributor and former reporter Natalie Gross hosts the Spouse Angle podcast. She grew up in a military family and has a master's degree in journalism from Georgetown University.
