Churchill school gets 'blue ribbon' for closing the gap

Nothing changed at Churchill Elementary School on Friday when U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona announced the 2022 National Blue Ribbon Schools - and the Cloquet school as one of 297 to make the list.

Teachers and staff at the school were still doing what they do, students were still attending classes, studying and hanging out with friends. But there was extra excitement in the air, a little sense of being recognized as something special.

It's a big deal.

National Blue Ribbon Schools serve as models of effective school practices for state and district educators and other schools throughout the nation, a U.S. Department of Education news release explained.

"This is a great honor and is well-deserved recognition for the hard work of our staff and the excellent education they provide the children of our community," Cloquet superintendent Michael Cary said.

The award recognizes all Blue Ribbon Schools in one of two performance categories, based on all student scores, subgroup student scores and graduation rates:

• Exemplary High-Performing Schools are among their state's highest-performing schools as measured by state assessments or nationally normed tests.

• Exemplary Achievement Gap-Closing Schools are among their state's highest-performing schools in closing achievement gaps between a school's student groups and all students.

Churchill was recognized in the second category, for closing the education achievement gap. It's been an issue across the state historically, with educational disparities across socioeconomic status, race and ethnicity.

Principal Dave Wangen said Churchill has had very high test scores on the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments across the board.

"Our gap is very small, if at all," he said, naming tracked subgroups including American Indian students, students of two or more races, special education students and students who qualify for free or reduced lunch. "All of our subgroups are performing at very high levels."

Churchill was one of eight schools in the state to be named a Blue Ribbon School. According to Wangen, Churchill ranks highest of Minnesota's elementary schools in closing the achievement gap.

"It's about our students," Wangen said. "But it's a really nice award for them, for our staff and the community."

Wangen said he knew the school was being considered for the award last spring, but the student MCA test scores for spring 2022 were the final factor and an unknown until recently.

According to the Churchill School page at nationalblueribbonschools.ed.gov: "Churchill's high-quality core instruction in the classroom and intervention groups are credited with helping close the achievement gap. With an intentional focus on individual student needs, regular monitoring, and high-quality instruction, students make progress towards their learning goals leading to a shrinking achievement gap."

Wangen said the very active and ongoing intervention process helps prevent any students from falling through the cracks.

"All of our staff collaborate on student data," he said. "We do student data retreats twice a year, progress reports two times a month. We are always checking the data and the results."

Relationships with students and families are also part of their recipe for success.

That was evident Wednesday morning, as Wangen waited by Door 5, greeting nearly every student who got off a bus to come into the school. There were fist bumps, lots of smiles, even a couple unsolicited hugs for the principal.

Wangen said the school will celebrate in December once they receive their Blue Ribbon banner and plaque.

"We are fortunate to have excellent staff and a strong culture of support for children within our district," Cary said. "We have great people who work hard every day, regardless of recognition."