Oakland Unified School District’s Lincoln Elementary has been named a 2010 National Blue Ribbon School - one of the highest honors available in K-12 education.

The school, located in Oakland’s Chinatown section, is the only school in Alameda County, and one of just 25 in the state of California, to earn this recognition. Five Northern California schools, three in the Bay Area, received the prestigious award.

The 2010 Blue Ribbon Schools program recognizes schools that are “national models of excellence,” as demonstrated by superior overall achievement, as well as substantial accomplishment in the face of economic challenges.

"Today was a wonderful day as I watched, by video, Education Secretary Arne Duncan announcing that Lincoln Elementary would be the receiving the 2010 National Blue Ribbon Award,” said Lincoln Principal John Melvin. “This is a tremendous honor. Lincoln has a long history serving the immigrant population of the Oakland Chinatown community. This Blue Ribbon Award acknowledges academic success over time and we are proud to have sustained excellence. This award is a testament to the hard work and efforts of our students, teachers, staff and families."

The Blue Ribbon Schools Award honors public and private elementary, middle and high schools whose students achieve at exceptionally high levels or have made significant progress to help close gaps in achievement. The award is part of a larger Department of Education program to identify and disseminate knowledge about best school leadership and teaching practices.

Blue Ribbon nominees are selected by the top education official in each state. California is home to more than 6,000 Title I schools - schools serving predominantly low-income students. From this number, State Superintendent of Instruction Jack O’Connell selected fewer than three dozen – about six-tenths of one percent – as Blue Ribbon nominees. Ultimately, Lincoln joined 24 other California schools in the group of 430 Blue Ribbon schools nationwide.

In order to be eligible for Blue Ribbon School consideration, a California public school must have:

• Met all of its 2008 Academic Performance Index state targets. API is the state’s primary metric for measuring student achievement
• Met all Adequate Yearly Progress federal accountability targets, including those for the school overall and for each numerically significant demographic group at the school
• A 2008 Base API rank of 6, 7, 8, 9 or 10
• Met all of its 2009 API and AYP targets, including those for the school overall and for each numerically significant subgroup.
• Demonstrated significant growth in the percent of students achieving proficient/advanced in English-language arts and mathematics from 2005 to 2009.

Approximately 72 percent of the students enrolled at California’s Blue Ribbon nominee schools were classified as disadvantaged by U.S. Department of Education criteria. Over the last five years, the 35 schools, on average, increased the number of students scoring advanced or proficient in English-Language Arts and Mathematics by at least 49 percent.

At Lincoln, more than 90 percent of students speak a language other than English at home and more than 70 percent of the students are eligible for free and reduced lunch. Yet, the school’s demographics have not proved an obstacle to remarkable levels of achievement. Ninety-six percent of Lincoln’s students rank as advanced or proficient in Math and 83 percent of students score as advanced or proficient on the English Language Arts exam. Overall, the schools Academic Percentage Index is 953 on a thousand-point scale – one of the highest totals in the state.

National Blue Ribbon recognition continues a legacy of achievement. In each of the past five years, Lincoln has earned a California Title I Academic Achievement Award. The Title I Academic Achievement Awards salute schools that exhibit sterling academic performance while serving a socio-economically disadvantaged population. All of the winning schools have student bodies where at least 40 percent of the students qualify for free and reduced lunch. Yet, in every case, they more than double the state’s academic growth targets.

“As we transform OUSD from a district with a few, full-service community schools to a full-service community school district, Lincoln is leading the way. Their success reinforces our obligation to provide high-quality education and equitable outcomes for all children, regardless of their demographics,” Oakland Unified Superintendent Tony Smith said. “The tremendous results we’ve seen at Lincoln, not only in terms of impressive test scores, but in the development of an overwhelmingly positive school culture show that, given the proper conditions, all children can learn and achieve.

"Lincoln is truly a model school and a success story to replicate here in Oakland and across the country.”