hall-kent elementary, homewood city school — Hall-Kent Elementary School is one of the newest National Blue Ribbon Schools. Photo via Tira Davis for Bham Now

Here at Bham Now, we loved celebrating our city’s accomplishments. The newest one is the U.S. Department of Education awarding two Birmingham area schools as National Blue Ribbon Schools. Keep reading to learn what this title means and which schools were chosen.

Blue Ribbon Recognition

Don’t know what a National Blue Ribbon School is? It is a title given to educational institutions that achieve academic excellence.

The National Blue Ribbon School program recognizes public and private elementary, middle and high schools on their overall academic excellence. Every year the U.S. Department of Education celebrates great American schools demonstrating that all students can achieve to high levels.

Now in its 39th year, the program has awarded more than 10,000 awards to over 9,000 schools—some schools have won multiple awards. This year, the U.S. Department of Education recognized two Birmingham elementary schools.

1. Hall-Kent Elementary School

Hall-Kent Elementary School is one of the schools that received the title this year. It is one of three elementary schools in the Homewood City School District. The Title 1 school was nominated in the Exemplary High Performing Schools category.

Hall-Kent has a total of 664 students.

Location: 213 Hall Avenue Birmingham, AL, 35209
Contact: (205)-423-2430

2. Mt. Laurel Elementary School

Mt. Laurel Elementary School is the second school to receive a National Blue Ribbon title. It is a public school in the Shelby County School system that serves grades K-5. Mt. Laurel and Hall-Kent shared the same category nomination this year.

The elementary school has 511 students total.