Six schools earn “Blue Ribbon”

BATON ROUGE [AP] — Six Louisiana public schools have been dubbed national “Blue Ribbon” schools.

That’s a distinction bestowed by federal education officials on schools that have shown academic excellence or have made large improvements in student achievement.

The six Louisiana schools are Sherwood Middle School in East Baton Rouge Parish, Ben Franklin High School in New Orleans, L.J. Alleman Middle School in Lafayette Parish, French Settlement Elementary School in Livingston Parish, DeRidder Junior High in Beauregard Parish, and Vidalia Junior High in Concordia Parish.

They were on a list of 314 Blue Ribbon schools named nationally Tuesday by the U.S. Department of Education.