• U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan recognized 269 schools as 2012 National Blue Ribbon Schools on Friday. Groton Elementary School was one of only three South Dakota schools to receive this distinction.
• "The National Blue Ribbon Award is the highest honor that can be given to a school," Groton Elementary Principal Dan Dalchow said. "Not all schools that are nominated receive the distinction, so when they announced the winners, I was happy to see our school was on the list."
• The National Blue Ribbon Schools award honors public and private elementary, middle, and high schools where students perform at very high levels or where significant improvements are being made in students' levels of achievement. The program recognizes schools in one of two performance categories.
• The first category is

schools happen by design," Secretary Duncan said "The National Blue Ribbon Schools are the best of what our country has to offer, they are models for schools across the country."
• To select National Blue Ribbon Schools, the Department of Education requests nominations from the top education official in every state. Those schools are then invited to submit an application for possible recognition as a National Blue Ribbon School.
• "Last spring when the South Dakota DOE (Dept. of Education) contacted me about nominating our school for this award," Dalchow said. "I was proud and honored that our school was being recognized as a top performing school.
• In order to win one of the highest honors a school can achieve takes a lot of teamwork, dedication and enthusiasm for student success.
• "Our nation has no greater responsibility

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"Exemplary High Performing," in which schools are recognized among their state's highest performing schools, as measured by state assessments or nationally-normed tests. The second category is "Exemplary Improving," in which schools that have at least 40 percent of their students from disadvantaged backgrounds demonstrate the most progress in improving student achievement levels as measured by state assessments or nationally-normed tests. All three of the South Dakota schools fell under the "Exemplary High Performing" category.
• "Great schools don't happen by chance. Great