5 Kansas City-area schools named National Blue Ribbon Schools

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP Modified) - The U.S. Department of Education has named five Kansas City-area high schools as National Blue Ribbon Schools for their efforts to improve student achievement.

Two of the schools, Park Hill South and Lawson, are in Missouri.

The other three are in Kansas. They are Basehor-Linwood, Blue Valley and St. Thomas Aquinas.

Blue Ribbon schools are honored as high-performing schools based on state assessment scores, or as exemplary improving schools that have shown progress in helping disadvantaged students improve on state tests.

“The National Blue Ribbon Schools are the best of what our country has to offer,” U.S. Department of Education Secretary Duncan told students, parents, teachers, and dignitaries at an assembly in Virginia Friday announcing the 269 U.S. schools who made the list in 2012. “They are models for schools across the country.”

A total of 11 schools in Missouri and Kansas were given the honor.

For more on National Blue Ribbon Schools, visit http://1.usa.gov/U4kTEz