{"id":3747,"date":"2025-11-05T13:00:28","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T19:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mdek12.org\/communications\/?p=3747"},"modified":"2025-11-05T11:50:33","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T17:50:33","slug":"mde-establishes-mississippi-blue-ribbon-schools-program-to-recognize-national-blue-ribbon-nominated-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mdek12.org\/communications\/2025\/11\/05\/mde-establishes-mississippi-blue-ribbon-schools-program-to-recognize-national-blue-ribbon-nominated-schools\/","title":{"rendered":"MDE establishes Mississippi Blue Ribbon Schools program to recognize National Blue Ribbon-nominated schools"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>NEWS RELEASE\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>For Immediate Release: November 5, 2025<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3752 aligncenter\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/59\/2025\/11\/MSBlueRibbon-NewsRelease-2025-1105-JC-v02_2.png\" alt=\"MDE establishes Mississippi Blue Ribbon Schools program to recognize National Blue Ribbon-nominated schools\" width=\"520\" height=\"292\" srcset=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/59\/2025\/11\/MSBlueRibbon-NewsRelease-2025-1105-JC-v02_2.png 520w, \/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/59\/2025\/11\/MSBlueRibbon-NewsRelease-2025-1105-JC-v02_2-300x168.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 520px) 100vw, 520px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>MDE establishes Mississippi Blue Ribbon Schools program to recognize National Blue Ribbon-nominated schools<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>JACKSON, Miss. \u2013 The Mississippi Department of Education (MDE) is announcing today the establishment of the Mississippi Blue Ribbon School program, following the termination of the U.S. Department of Education\u2019s former National Blue Ribbon Schools Program in August. This state-level program will continue the annual recognition of the state\u2019s highest-performing schools.<\/p>\n<p>The Mississippi Blue Ribbon School designation uses the same criteria for selection as the national program and carries the same level of prestige. The recognition highlights schools that excel in academic performance and\/or make significant strides in closing achievement gaps among different student groups.<\/p>\n<p>Schools are recognized in both or either of two performance categories:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Exemplary High Performing Schools:<\/strong> These schools are among the top performers in the state as measured by state assessments.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Exemplary Achievement Gap Closing Schools:<\/strong> These schools excel in narrowing achievement gaps between different student groups and the overall student body.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The MDE has selected three schools in 2025 as the state\u2019s inaugural Mississippi Blue Ribbon Schools:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Exemplary High Performing Schools<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Beach Elementary School, Pascagoula-Gautier School District<\/li>\n<li>Ocean Springs High School, Ocean Springs School District<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Exemplary High-Performing School and Exemplary Achievement Gap-Closing School<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Bayou View Elementary School, Gulfport School District<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Mississippi Blue Ribbon Schools are led by leaders who articulate a clear vision of instructional excellence and uphold high standards. They showcase effective teaching methods and offer robust professional development for their staff. Data-driven instruction is a hallmark, and there is a concerted effort to ensure every student succeeds. Collaboration among families, communities, and educators is a key component of their success.<\/p>\n<p>The MDE selected the 2025 Mississippi Blue Ribbon Schools based on student performance data including assessment results, student subgroup performance and graduation rates. Each nominated school submits a comprehensive application detailing its school culture, curriculum, assessments, instructional practices, professional development, leadership, family, and community involvement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMDE is proud to continue the longstanding tradition of recognizing outstanding schools that serve as models for the state and nation,\u201d said Dr. Lance Evans, state superintendent of education. \u201cCongratulations to the students, educators, families and communities of the inaugural Mississippi Blue Ribbon Schools for earning the state\u2019s top recognition for achievement.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Find all MDE news releases at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mdek12.org\/news\"><u>mdek12.org\/news<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">###<\/p>\n<p>Jean Cook, APR<br \/>\nChief of Communication<br \/>\n601-359-3515<br \/>\n<a href=\"mailto:jcook@mdek12.org\">jcook@mdek12.org<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Shanderia Minor<br \/>\nPublic Information Officer<br \/>\n601-359-3515<br \/>\n<a href=\"mailto:sminor@mdek12.org\">sminor@mdek12.org<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>JACKSON, Miss. \u2013 The Mississippi Department of Education (MDE) is announcing today the establishment of the Mississippi Blue Ribbon School program, following the termination of the U.S. Department of Education\u2019s former National Blue Ribbon Schools Program in August. This state-level program will continue the annual recognition of the state\u2019s highest-performing schools.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mdek12.org\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mdek12.org\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mdek12.org\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mdek12.org\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mdek12.org\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3747"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mdek12.org\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3747\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3754,"href":"https:\/\/mdek12.org\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3747\/revisions\/3754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mdek12.org\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mdek12.org\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mdek12.org\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}