SPRINGFIELD – The state honored 28 schools from across Illinois for academic performance at an event at the governor’s mansion in Springfield Wednesday evening.

The schools, a mix of K-12 public and private institutions, were the first to be awarded in the Illinois Governor’s Blue Ribbon School Award program. The program was established in October 2025, soon after the national equivalent was abolished by the Trump Administration.

The recipients from Illinois had already been selected by the U.S. Department of Education before the program was closed in August 2025.

“Twenty-eight outstanding schools are represented here tonight, recognized for the prestigious distinction that’s based upon the rigorous criteria, the same ones that were used by the Department of Education, so you have met and exceeded those really high standards,” Gov. JB Pritzker said at the ceremony.

The Trump administration said the closure was part of a series of downsizing initiatives in the Department of Education in an effort to return education to the states, the Chicago Tribune reported.

The National Blue Ribbon Schools program honored thousands of public and private schools for academic achievement since 1982. In 2024, 18 Illinois schools received the prestigious award.

“I believe that this level of educational excellence really should be celebrated at every opportunity,” Pritzker said. “We should be constantly uplifting our students and our teachers, our administrators and the school’s achievements and successes. Each and every day, you come to school eager to support your students, their safety, their growth, their well-being. You put forward your best efforts, and you commit yourselves to, well, making their lives better.”

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The Illinois State Board of Education will manage the Governor’s Blue Ribbon Schools application and awards process in the coming years.

Fifteen public and 13 nonpublic schools, included below, were awarded in the ceremony.

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Public Schools:

• Sunset Ridge Elementary School, Northfield, Sunset Ridge School District 29
• William Fremd High School, Palatine, Township High School District 211
• Highlands Elementary School, La Grange, LaGrange Highlands School District 106
• Pleasantdale Middle School, Burr Ridge, Pleasantdale School District 107
• Lyons Township High School, La Grange, Lyons Township High School District 204
• Glen Oaks Elementary School, Hickory Hills, North Palos School District 117
• Warren Elementary School, Warren, Community Unit School District 205
• Prescott Elementary School, Chicago, Chicago Public School District 299
• Clarendon Hills Middle School, Clarendon Hills, Community Consolidated School District 181
• Walker Elementary School, Clarendon Hills, Community Consolidated School District 181
• Kennedy Junior High School, Lisle, Naperville Community Unit School District 203
• Liberty Intermediate School, Libertyville, Community High School District 128
• Sarah Adams Elementary School, Lake Zurich, Lake Zurich Community Unit School District 95
• Mascoutah Middle School, Mascoutah, Mascoutah School District 19
• Lincoln-Way East High School, Frankfort, Lincoln-Way Community High School District 210

Private Schools:

• Ascension Catholic School, Oak Park
• Our Lady of Mount Carmel Academy, Chicago
• Regina Dominican High School, Wilmette
• St. Giles School, Oak Park
• St. Matthias School, Chicago
• St. Therese Chinese Catholic School, Chicago
• St. John of the Cross Parish School, Western Springs
• St. Norbert School, Northbrook
• St. Anne Catholic School, Barrington
• The Academy of Saint Joan of Arc, Evanston
• Timothy Christian (PreK – 8), Elmhurst
• Wheaton Academy, West Chicago
• Woodlands Academy of the Sacred Heart, Lake Forest

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