With the Elberta High School band, mascot and cheerleaders performing Friday, you would have thought their middle school had just won an athletic championship. They had won, alright, but it was an academic award, and it was national.
On Friday, a ceremony at Elberta Middle School included students, faculty and staff, local officials, state and county school board members, and some parents. It was the second-largest gathering in Elberta, behind their annual Elberta Sausage Festival.
They were there to celebrate a national honor, the Blue Ribbon Lighthouse Award.
All those stakeholders had supported the school over the past year as they worked through the lengthy process for – and won – the award.
The Blue Ribbon Lighthouse Award is the highest honor given by the nationwide Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence (BRSE) program to schools that demonstrate exceptional performance. The award recognizes schools for their:
Academic achievement
Community engagement
Innovative practices that promote student success
Performance in nine key categories, including:
Student focus and support
School organization and culture
Challenging standards and curriculum
Active teaching and learning
Technology integration
Professional community
Leadership and educational vitality
School, family, and community partnerships
Within a 40-day process, Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence provides a school with data on their strengths and weaknesses in nine critical areas of school performance.
This data is based on feedback from students, parents, teachers, administrators, and support staff. Within that same 40-day process, BRSE can get a school started on the path to improvement by delivering a Blueprint for Excellence Plan that provides strategies for overcoming deficiencies and connects the school with leaders from other schools with a proven track record in the target school’s area of weakness.
The award followed a six-step process that began in Spring 2024:
1. Preparation and submission of application
2. Demographic questionnaire
3. Online assessment
4. Final report
5. Onsite validation and review
6. Improvement plan
School Principal Tom Duffy emphasized that the honor “had been the result of a team effort.”
We in Alabama are used to school bands, cheerleaders and mascots performing for football games and other athletic events. This time, the school spirit was raised for academic achievement.
Jim ‘Zig’ Zeigler writes about Alabama’s people, places, events, groups and prominent deaths. He is a former Alabama Public Service Commissioner and State Auditor. You can reach him for comments at ZeiglerElderCare@yahoo.com.
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