School awarded Blue Ribbon
Winn Elementary among 15 in state to be recognized at national level
A rural elementary school with a history of getting recognized as a quality place of learning has gotten one more accolade.
Winn Elementary, part of the Shepherd School District, was recognized as a 2020 National Blue Ribbon School. It was one of 15 schools in Michigan, and one of 367 nationwide — 357 public schools and 10 charters — to receive the honor.
“Winn Elementary has had a long standing tradition of excellence. When you enter our school you see our motto, ‘everything a kid needs,’” Principal Laurie Richards said in a statement. “Our staff lives and breathes this motto each and every day.
We have incredibly supportive families that are the backbone of our school.
“We have received this award because of the hard work of past and present staff members, students, and families. As a Shepherd Public School, we are committed to creating life-long learners for success in a changing world. Wewant tomake sure that
each student reaches their fullest learning potential. Becoming a ‘ National Blue Ribbon School’ honors our hard work and vision for our students.”
The school’s administration was invited by the state to apply to the U. S. Department of Education for the Blue Ribbon program because Winn’s students scored in the top 1 percent of scores on the Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress, a standardized test used to determine how well students are learning. It’s also used as one criteria to determine how well kids are performing. Other criteria used include classroom work, report cards and local district assessments.
The application itself involved “a huge writing project,” that was sent to the DOE for final approval, she said.
Winn is no stranger to accolades.
In 2012, it was named a National Title I Distinguished School by the Michigan Department of Education, for which it received a visit fromthe-then president of the Michigan Board of Education.
The same year, Winn was ranked in the 99th percentile of all Michigan public schools in the state’s annual top-to-bottom list, one of 28 schools to receive what was the highest rank a school could achieve. The top-to-bottom-list has since been replaced by a school quality dashboard called mischooldata.org.