re: Pair of Baton Rouge schools recognized as National Blue Ribbon Schools

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They also have an amazing principal. He is highly competent and ADHD, so he is always buzzing around doing actual work. He was my AP for a few years and did more work than all of the other admins combined.

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Yea...Kyle Fontenette is a rock star.

Wow. The kids weren’t enough, now they’re giving participation trophies to the schools

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Catholic High isn't co-ed like BRHS so you have to half the numbers when you compare enrollment numbers.

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They should have more programs if CHS is limited to boys only sports and BRHS is co-ed

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National Blue Ribbon Schools is the United States Department of Education’s award program honoring schools that are making great strides in closing achievement gaps

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That's one of two programs. The other is for overall high achievement.

Having said that, I would argue it might be harder to take a crappy school to good, then it is to keep a great school great, especially when you consider the demographics.

So no, the "closing gap" schools are not "as good" as the traditional blue ribbon program, but I fully support them getting some recognition.

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How about Tennis, Power Lifting, Golf, Bowling, Fishing, Lacrosse, Cheer/Dance?

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BR High has all of them except Lacrosse and cheer, but has gymnastics which Catholic doesn't have and girls wrestling which SJA doesn't have.

BR High also has more than 50 clubs and a radio station.

My child goes to Mayfair, and we love it. My only complaint as a parent is the middle school portion is WAY lacking in the electives department. No performing arts at all, and that is just something that shouldn’t be the case in a magnet school.

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but I fully support them getting some recognition.

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Its smoke and mirrors. There is no actual on-site observation of the actual school. Its a paperwork process. And only if you want to invest untold hours. WaPo did a deep dive on the process and here is their response

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A Brookings Institution study said their research shows the Blue Ribbon award is often a substitute for needed reforms. Too often, the Blue Ribbon award is sought as validation for schools and used to excuse reform, "We don't need to reform, we just won a Blue Ribbon award for excellence."

The Brookings Institution study of the Blue Ribbon Award, however, not only revealed that the "Blue Ribbon" was no guarantee of educational excellence, but that the 71-page application form requires some 5,000 man hours to complete.

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Typical of the wasted effort caused by the award program is Ashburton Elementary School in Bethesda. The Washington Post reported that Ashburton closed its school library for two weeks so that "a committee of 44 Ashburton administrators, teachers and parents could spend 12-hour days completing the 71-page application."

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The Sovereignty report says that the Blue Ribbon awards politically correct teaching methods, which may actually be less effective than traditional methods of teaching. In particular, the Department of Education rewards schools for implementing new technology such as computers, even when there is no evidence to suggest that computers actually improve early education.

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Some good news is that applying for the Blue Ribbon is entirely voluntary, and many school boards prohibit individual schools from wasting time and money applying. If your school district does not have a policy forbidding schools from applying for a Blue Ribbon, you may want to ask your school board to adopt such a policy.

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Last year, only 377 schools applied, and 198 received awards. The relatively low participation indicates that schools participate only when they have some particularly strong reason to seek outside validation. With a more than 50 percent acceptance rate, schools stand a good chance of receiving a Blue Ribbon.

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They should have performing arts regardless of what type of magnet school it is. All of the others do.