Vandergriff, St. Vincent schools receive Blue Ribbon awards

St. Vincent de Paul Catholic School has been named a Blue Ribbon School.
St. Vincent de Paul Catholic School has been named a Blue Ribbon School.

SPRINGDALE -- Two Northwest Arkansas schools were among five in Arkansas named National Blue Ribbon Schools by the U.S. Department of Education on Tuesday.

St. Vincent de Paul Catholic School in Rogers and Vandergriff Elementary School in Fayetteville received the honor this year. Vandergriff also received a Blue Ribbon award in 2009.

Blue Ribbon winners

Schools in Benton and Washington counties that have received the Blue Ribbon award in the past five years:

2015

St. Vincent de Paul Catholic School (Rogers)

Vandergriff Elementary School (Fayetteville)

2014

Eastside Elementary School (Rogers)

St. Joseph Catholic School (Fayetteville)

2013

Central Park Elementary School (Bentonville)

2012

Russell D. Jones Elementary School (Rogers)

2011

Bellview Elementary School (Rogers)

Source: Arkansas Department of Education

"I'm just so proud of our students, our staff and our parents," Vandergriff Principal Andrea Sego said. "Kids love to come to school and learn. We just have great teachers that really care about the child and teaching the whole child."

Other Blue Ribbon schools from Arkansas this year include Mount Pleasant Elementary School in Mount Pleasant, Park Magnet School in Hot Springs and Valley View Junior High School in Jonesboro.

The National Blue Ribbon Schools Program recognizes public and private elementary, middle and high schools where students either demonstrate high performance on standardized tests or have made progress toward closing achievement gaps, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Education. The department gave out 335 Blue Ribbon awards this year and has given 8,000 Blue Ribbon awards since the program began 33 years ago.

All five Arkansas schools won awards for high performance based on the results of standardized tests for all students and for students in diverse subgroups.

The department will host a recognition ceremony Nov. 9-10 in Washington for the 285 public and 50 private schools that received Blue Ribbon awards this year.

St. Vincent de Paul serves 350 students in prekindergarten through eighth grades. The school's stated mission is to provide academic excellence "in a Christian environment that instills Catholic principles and life-long values in Faith, Knowledge and Service," according to the Department of Education.

St. Vincent de Paul, which opened in 1957, is one of two Catholic schools in Northwest Arkansas. The other, St. Joseph Catholic School in Fayetteville, earned a Blue Ribbon last year.

Karla Thielemier, St. Vincent de Paul's principal, said the school's success is built on the cooperation of families, school and church.

"That's why excellence is achieved. It's definitely a community effort," she said.

St. Vincent de Paul's students represent 40 different nationalities. The school tailors its services to each child individually, Thielemier said.

"When you have so many different backgrounds and nationalities, it boils down to meeting the needs of each child," she said.

U.S. Sen. John Boozman, who is from Rogers, plans to visit St. Vincent de Paul on Friday for a ceremony celebrating the Blue Ribbon honor.

"We are blessed in Arkansas to have some of the most dedicated teachers, faculty and staff in the nation," Boozman said. "The talented professionals at Mount Pleasant Elementary, Park Magnet, St. Vincent de Paul, Valley View Junior High and Vandergriff Elementary exemplify that high level of dedication to our children. Congratulations to them, and of course the students and parents who play a vital role, in achieving this national recognition."

Public schools nominated for the awards for high performance must be in the top 15 percent of all schools in the state for test scores for all students and in the top 40 percent for the test of diverse student subgroups.

Students in public schools took the exams from the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers in the spring, but those results have not been released yet.

The application for Vandergriff was based on student performance on the former benchmark tests taken in 2013-14, Sego said. The application was based on the performance of 688 students in kindergarten through fifth grade, but because of a grade-level transition in Fayetteville, the school this year has about 550 students in kindergarten through fourth grade.

Sego learned her school was invited to submit an application to be a Blue Ribbon school in the spring and that her school met all of the qualifications in September. She was told last week to watch for the announcement.

"We've consistently had high achievement," Sego said.

NW News on 09/30/2015

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