WASHINGTON CITY — A no-rewards philosophy for teaching and learning has resulted in a major award for one Washington County school.
Horizon Elementary Principal Mona Haslem will accept the National Blue Ribbon School award Nov. 4 at a ceremony in Washington, D.C.
This achievement will be shared with 297 schools nationwide, with only one other from the state, Adams Elementary from Logan.
Adams and Horizon are the 21st and 22nd schools from the state to receive the award since its inception in 1982.
“Only 22 schools in Utah have received this award in 40 years,” Haslem said. “So we are pretty excited.”
Haslem and school counselor Jeana James say part of the credit for the accomplishment of the national award is a no-rewards system – no extrinsic rewards for academics, athletics and more.
“We say we are a no-rewards school, which means we don’t give out trophies. We don’t give out candy. We don’t give out other physical stuff, but what we do give out is ‘That is awesome. Didn’t that feel good inside?” James said. “We are teaching them internally to have that desire to do well.”
Added Haslem: “We still celebrate when they do good things, but it’s not an ‘if you do this, you get this’ type of incentive.”
Both Haslem and James said the no-rewards system has helped both the academic ability and emotional stability of each student.
Besides the no-rewards system, both said the school’s openness during the COVID-19 pandemic helped the school achieve the level of excellence needed for the reward.
“We wore masks the entire year, but we were still here,” Haslem said.
“The kids were so good. Did so good with it,” James added. “We were like, ‘we got this’ and ‘everything will be alright.’ We also do a life skills class which teaches them real life-coping skills.”
According to the U.S. Department of Education website, “The National Blue Ribbon Schools Program recognizes public and private elementary, middle, and high schools based on their overall academic excellence or their progress in closing achievement gaps among student subgroups.”
The U.S. Department of Education Secretary Miguel Cardona announced through a media release the winners of the national recognition on Sept. 16.
The school’s accomplishment is based on all student scores, subgroup student scores and graduation rates.
“They look over the last few years to see if you do well and see how we did at the end of 2021,” Haslem said. “I was invited to apply for the school, and I wrote pages of other good things we are doing in the school that pushed us over the edge to be one of the schools picked.”
Horizon Elementary was in the top 15% in the state for the whole school’s academic performance in English language arts, mathematics and each demographic subgroup in the school. The school is also a Utah Bronze STEM school (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics).
Haslem and James said the application was a “thick packet” of papers, 40 pages at least of data, test results and more.
Horizon is also a dual immersion school for the last 10 years, teaching Mandarin Chinese to 43% of the enrolled students.
As outlined in the school policy, their main objective is “building the whole child and laying foundations for life success. We do this by purposely teaching and developing intrinsic motivation, mental resilience, academic proficiency, and a desire to become a strong and happy contributing citizen in every aspect of their life. ”
This year, Horizon Elementary is not the only Washington City school to receive national recognition. Washington Fields Intermediate was named a national model school for PLC (Professional Learning Community) educational system.
“One thing … we are really good at is that team collaboration work,” James said. “Everyone does the same across the board, simplifying it for the kids.”
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