Downtown Raleigh School Named Blue Ribbon School for 2007

Raleigh, NC – The U.S. Department of Education Secretary Margaret Spellings has announced that Sacred Heart Cathedral Catholic School has been chosen as a National No Child Left Behind – Blue Ribbon School for 2007. A total of eight schools in North Carolina received the national recognition.

The No Child Left Behind—Blue Ribbon Schools Program honors public and private K-12 schools that make significant progress in closing the achievement gap or those whose students achieve at very high levels. The schools submit an extensive application and are selected by a panel based on one of the following criteria:

• A school has at least 40 percent of its students from disadvantaged backgrounds who have dramatically improved their performance in at least the past three years in reading and mathematics and are achieving at high levels.


• A school may be recognized if its students achieve at the highest levels, that is, if the school is in the top 10 percent of the schools in the nation in reading and mathematics in the last grade tested, as measured by an assessment referenced against national norms, or in the top 10 percent in its state as measured by a state test in at least the last grade tested.

Sacred Heart Cathedral School is being recognized for high achievement. Along with test scores, the schools were evaluated on other measures such as overall school program, assessment, curriculum, instructional methods and professional development. “This is a huge accomplishment and honor for our school. Words cannot express how proud I am of the faculty, staff, students and parents for making this a school community that is able to compete and be recognized on a national level,” says Donna Moss, Principal of Sacred Heart Cathedral School. Since its founding in 1909, Cathedral School has played a dynamic role in the North Carolina educational community. It was the first school in North Carolina to educate Native American children. It was also the first Catholic School to integrate when high school students from St. Monica’s School began attending Cathedral School in the 1950’s. Even today, Cathedral School is recognized as the hallmark of ethnic and racial diversity among Raleigh’s private schools. Located in its historic building on Hillsborough Street in downtown Raleigh, Sacred Heart Cathedral School is among the oldest in the Diocese of Raleigh. www.cathedral-school.net. Contact: Trudie Williamson; (919) 832-4711; williamson@cathedral-school.net