Northwestern Elementary Named 2010 Maryland Blue Ribbon School

State Superintendent of Schools Nancy S. Grasmick announced on Tuesday, Dec. 15, that Northwestern Elementary School in Mardela Springs is one of six public schools that have been selected as the 2010 Maryland Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence.

Northwestern Elementary, a school of 250 students, was recognized as a school of Sustained Improvement & High Achievement. The school has 51 percent of its students on Free and Reduced Priced Meals, and has student achievement at high standards with 94.4 percent of its 5th grade reading and 5th grade math students scoring in the proficient range.

The school received a Maryland School Performance Recognition Award in 2008 for increasing its subgroup performance on the MSA. Northwestern Elementary is a professional learning community school with all teachers, coaches, and administrators discussing student data on a weekly basis.

Representing Northwestern Elementary and Wicomico County Public Schools at the award announcement were Northwestern Principal Kirby Bryson, Superintendent of Schools Dr. John Fredericksen, Board of Education President Mark Thompson and Vice President L. Michelle Wright, Assistant Superintendent for Instruction and Student Services Dr. Margo Handy, Director of Elementary Education Susan Jones, and other school system staff members.

The names of all six Blue Ribbon schools have been submitted to the U.S. Secretary of Education for the National Blue Ribbon Schools Program. They are being recognized by the Maryland State Department of Education on the basis of rigorous state and national requirements for high achievement and dramatic improvement.

“Maryland is fortunate to have a large number of terrific schools, and making this selection from our 1,450 schools truly difficult,” Dr. Grasmick said. “We congratulate the students, teachers, parents, administrators and community members of these six outstanding schools, which serve as gleaming examples of educational excellence.”

Four of the schools are in the top 10 percent of state schools as measured by the Maryland School Assessments. The other two have achieved dramatic improvement over the past five years while serving an economically disadvantaged school population.

The 2010 Maryland Blue Ribbon Schools are:
• Northwestern Elementary School, Wicomico County
• Snow Hill Middle School, Worcester County
• Eastern Technical High School, Baltimore County
• Northern Middle School, Calvert County
• New Market Elementary School, Frederick County
• Ellicott Mills Middle School, Howard County

The schools will be honored by Dr. Grasmick and other dignitaries at a banquet March 15 in Annapolis. They also will be recognized with a special tribute by the Maryland General Assembly. Each school will receive more than $6,000 in technology equipment from Smart Technologies, $1,000 each from corporate sponsors, and a school-wide pizza party from Joe Corbi’s Pizza.

The schools will represent Maryland in the National Blue Ribbon Schools Competition. National winners will be announced in the fall of 2010 and will be invited to Washington, D.C., to be honored by national officials.

Maryland corporate sponsors of the Blue Ribbon Schools Program include Comcast, Joe Corbi’s Pizza, EduTrax, Scholastic, The SmarterKids Foundation, Sylvan Centers and Verizon of Maryland.