Dist. 200 school wins Blue Ribbon award

For the second year in a row, a Wheaton Warrenville Unit District 200 school is the recipient of one of the nation's top education awards.

The U.S. Department of Education named Longfellow Elementary School one of only three DuPage County institutions to be a Blue Ribbon School. A total of 19 Illinois schools, and 287 nationwide, received the honor this year.

District 200's Pleasant Hill Elementary in Winfield won the award last year.

The No Child Left Behind-Blue Ribbon Schools Award honors schools for helping students achieve at high levels and for making significant progress in closing the achievement gap.

Public schools win the award for one of two reasons.

Some schools have students with state test scores in the top 10 percent. Others schools won because they showed dramatic test score improvement while having at least 40 percent of their students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Longfellow won for its high state test scores and incremental improvements for three straight years. The achievement came under the leadership of Principal Paul McKinney, who retired in June.

McKinney will join district staff and current Longfellow Principal Diane Thornberg in Washington, D.C., in November to receive the award.

U.S. Department of Education officials are expected to visit Longfellow in the next couple weeks to present the award to staff during an all-school assembly.

The other DuPage County schools receiving a Blue Ribbon award are Pierce Downer Elementary School in Downers Grove and Sandburg Middle School in Elmhurst.