School Bulletin: Two schools gain national recognition

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- For two high-achieving institutions, recent recognition at the national level means even more after a school year full of pandemic challenges.

"In Franklin, we did commit to our families and students that during the pandemic, we were going to hold ourselves and our kids to high expectations," Chad Nelson, principal of Robinwood Elementary, says. "We really learned that we can accomplish anything together -- as a school and as a community."

Both Robinwood Elementary and Marquette University High School made the U.S. Department of Education's 2021 National Blue Ribbon School list. Both schools were first recognized locally before being nominated to apply for the list. Part of the application process includes looking at academic success and test scores from past years, but this year, the pandemic was also a consideration for education officials.

"We were really proud," Jeff Monday, principal of Marquette University High School, says. "The excellence in education that [students] have received in the past, continued under the circumstances of the pandemic."

Monday says the private Catholic high school has been focused on student development not only academically but also socially.

"We put into place a few different programs to see that students had meaningful connections with adults and with one another, despite the many that all schools encountered in educating students in a pandemic," Monday says.

At Robinwood, Nelson says socializing younger students was also a priority. He explains the elementary school staff developed a model to mimic in-person learning at home.

"The teacher would work with the students through Google classrooms," Nelson says. "Then they would set up small groups, as they would at school, where they would meet with the students and help them individually grow."

The schools have been celebrating their recent honor internally, and in November, representatives of both schools will travel to Washington, D.C., for an official award ceremony.

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