Three schools in Southcentral Alaska were among more than 300 schools nationwide recognized with the U.S. Department of Education Blue Ribbon award for academic excellence or for work closing achievement gaps.
U.S. Secretary of Education John King Jr. announced the 2016 National Blue Ribbon Schools on Wednesday. Just 329 public and private schools across the country made the annual list.
In Alaska, those schools were the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District's Academy Charter School in Palmer and the Anchorage School District's Bayshore Elementary School in South Anchorage and Orion Elementary School on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.
All three schools were considered "exemplary high-performing schools" based on their state test scores from spring 2015, said the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development.