Oatville Elementary, St. Patrick Catholic School named National Blue Ribbon Schools

Two Wichita-area schools were recognized Tuesday as 2014 National Blue Ribbon Schools by U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.

Oatville Elementary School in the Haysville district and St. Patrick Catholic School in Kingman, part of the Wichita Catholic Diocese, were among six Kansas schools receiving the designation.

The award honors public and private schools where students either perform at high levels or make notable improvement in closing the achievement gap based on overall student scores, subgroup scores and graduation rates.

Oatville and St. Patrick were recognized in the “exemplary high performing” category, measured by state assessments or nationally normed tests.

“We’ve maintained a high level of achievement over several years, and I think that’s the factor that caused us to ultimately get this recognition,” said Shane Palmer Dent, principal at Oatville Elementary.

More than half of the school’s 434 students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, an indicator of poverty, Dent said. Oatville also has the highest percentage of students in English for Speakers of Other Languages of any school in the Haysville district, he said.

“We try to build relationships with each of our kids, not just on the academic side of things,” Dent said. “We use data to drive our instruction, so we’re able to really track the progress of our kids individually.”

Campus High School in Wichita, part of the Haysville district, was named a National Blue Ribbon School last year for improvements in student achievement.

Bob Lyall, principal of St. Patrick Catholic School, said in a statement that he was “honored and humbled” to accept the award, which is the first for the Wichita Diocese.

Stewardship within the school community and diocese, coupled with mission-driven determination, have “propelled this school to outstanding heights,” Lyall said.

St. Patrick, founded in 1930, is the western-most Catholic school in the diocese and serves Kingman County and adjacent rural areas. It has 171 students enrolled in pre-K through eighth grade.

The two Wichita-area schools will be among 287 public and 50 private schools to be honored by the U.S. Department of Education at a ceremony Nov. 10-11 in Washington, D.C.

Valley Falls Elementary School in Valley Falls and West Bourbon Elementary School in Uniontown also were recognized for exemplary academic performance.

Marais des Cygnes Valley Elementary School in Quenemo and Ogden Elementary School in Ogden were recognized for improvements in achievement, a category in which schools with at least 40 percent of students from disadvantaged backgrounds demonstrate the most progress in improving student achievement on state assessments.

This story was originally published September 30, 2014 at 3:40 PM with the headline "Oatville Elementary, St. Patrick Catholic School named National Blue Ribbon Schools."