By Natalie Zarowny
nzarowny@cbs4qc.com
Every year, 16 Illinois schools are nominated for a Blue Ribbon
Award.
This year, Ridgewood School in East Moline is one of the
lucky 16 to be nominated for high test scores.
Today, a class of first graders at Ridgewood School are
dressing up as Dalmatians.
"Since it's the 101th day of school," said Peyton
Carver, a 1st grader at Ridgewood.
But even with today's fun, the kids are hard at work,
learning action verbs.
That hard work is what makes Ridgewood a blue ribbon school
nominee.
"Through our hard work, there is recognition," said
Principal Sheri Coder.
Over the past ten years, Coder said standardized test scores
have been rising steadily.
No small achievement for a school that faces plenty of
hurdles.
"67% of my children fall within the federal guidelines
for poverty level," said Coder.
Another big challenge is crowded classrooms.
Coder said the K–4 school is at full capacity with 445
students.
But they do have some major strengths, like reading.
"We have a really good curriculum in reading, it's a
newer one, and we've been doing it for several years now," said Mrs.
Still, a 1st grade teacher."
"You get to read books and you have a really cool
teachers," said Emma King a 1st grader at Ridgewood.
Whether they win a blue ribbon or not, they'll go on doing
what they do best, helping kids learn.
"Every day we come in and we do our job and we just
have fun learning," said Mrs. Stills.
Ridgewood will find out if they've won in September.
Principals of winning schools in each state will go to an
awards ceremony in Washington D.C.
