Naperville school earns Blue Ribbon award

A Naperville elementary school earned one of the highest prizes in education Thursday when it was named a U.S. Department of Education Blue Ribbon award winner.

Highlands Elementary School is among 19 Illinois schools selected for this year's Blue Ribbon recognition.

Naperville Unit District 203 officials announced in a statement that Highlands was chosen as a "high performing" school, as measured on state assessments during the past five school years.

Susan Stuckey, Highlands principal, attributed the school's academic success to the students, teachers, support staff and "very active" parent groups.

"Together, everyone can be proud of this accomplishment," Stuckey said in a statement, "because together we have worked to create optimal learning opportunities for students and families."

Highlands Elementary is the second District 203 school to earn Blue Ribbon recognition. Kennedy Junior High School was honored in 2002 and 2008, officials said.

Officials said the program honors public and private schools based on one of two criteria:

• Schools whose students are high performing, regardless of backgrounds. These are buildings ranked among the state's highest-performing schools as measured by state assessments.

•Schools with at least 40 percent of their children from disadvantaged backgrounds that improve student performance to high levels as measured by the building's performance on state assessments or national tests.

A recognition ceremony is planned for Nov. 15 and 16 in Washington, D.C. for representatives of the 254 public and 50 private Blue Ribbon schools. Stuckey and a Highlands teacher are expected to attend.