The Bear Creek School (TBCS) was one of 50 private schools nationwide selected as a Blue Ribbon School on Tuesday, and the only school in the state of Washington, public or private, recognized this year by U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.

Duncan named 337 schools as the 2014 National Blue Ribbon Schools based on their overall academic excellence or their progress in closing achievement gaps among student subgroups. The 2014 schools represent 47 states, the U.S. Virgin Islands and DoDEA schools in Germany and Japan. They comprise 241 elementary schools, 25 middle schools, 48 high schools and 23 K-12 schools. Of these 337 schools, 289 are honored as Exemplary High Performing schools, including TBCS, which is one of the few recognized K-12 programs.

TBCS President and Headmaster Patrick B. Carruth acknowledged the award, “We are honored and deeply grateful to be recognized as a 2014 National Blue Ribbon School. Congratulations to the faculty, students, administration, staff, parents and our alumni for their extraordinary efforts to create an exceptional learning and teaching community at Bear Creek.”

“Congratulations to the Bear Creek School on this well-deserved honor,” said Congresswoman Suzan DelBene. “National Blue Ribbon Schools represent the best of the best, and the teachers, administrators, students, and families at the Bear Creek School should be proud.”

In its 32-year history, the National Blue Ribbon Schools Program has bestowed this coveted award on just under 7,900 of America’s schools.

“National Blue Ribbon Schools are models of consistent excellence and a resource for other schools and districts,” Duncan said. “We celebrate them for their tireless effort and boundless creativity in reaching and teaching every student.”

The National Blue Ribbon Schools Program is an important part of the department’s efforts to seek, identify, replicate and scale up education practices that work. Duncan praised the National Blue Ribbon Schools as “a national treasure,” and challenged them to share their knowledge with peers, “to become engines of educational innovation, galvanizing others to transform their schools, as well.”