The Dell Rapids School District was notified at the end of September that the Dell Rapids Elementary School is recognized as a 2019 National Blue Ribbon School.
Only 362 schools in the United States were given this honor in 2019. Of those 362 schools, only six in schools in South Dakota received the recognition. Five of the six South Dakota schools were elementary schools.
To receive this recognition, the school must be nominated. Dell Rapids was nominated in the category of “Exemplary High Performing Schools”. To receive the National Blue Ribbon recognition, Dell Rapids Elementary had to meet the following criteria as listed The National Blue Ribbon Schools government website:
- The school must be in the top 15 percent of all schools in the state when schools are ranked on
- the performance of all students who participated in the most recently administered state assessments in reading (or English language arts) and mathematics, or
- a composite index that includes these assessment results and may also include assessment results in other subject areas and/or other student performance measures, such as attendance or graduation rates.
- For each of the school’s subgroups meeting the State’s minimum size requirement, the school must be in the top 40 percent of all public schools in the state when schools are ranked on
- the performance of all students in the subgroup who participated in the most recently administered state assessments in reading (or English language arts) and mathematics, or
- a composite index that includes these assessment results and may also include assessment results in other subject areas and/or other student performance measures, such as attendance or graduation rates for high schools.
- For high schools, the school must be in the top 15 percent of all high schools in the state when high schools are ranked on the most recently available graduation rate.
Congratulations to the Dell Rapids Elementary School and the Dell Rapids School District Administration on this recognition!