Just two years into the tenure of its first Black and first woman principal, historic Central High has been named a national Blue Ribbon School by the U.S. Department of Education — for a record-setting third time.
Central is the country’s second oldest high school in continuous operation. Along with Masterman, it is also among the city’s most selective. It is the only school in Philadelphia to win the award this year.
Students and staff with tubes of confetti gathered to celebrate on the south lawn of the school at Broad and Olney as Kate Davis, whose title is president rather than the principal, made the announcement.
“This is an achievement that recognizes the continued academic excellence of Central High School,” Davis told the crowd. “This is an achievement that celebrates the dedication of our faculty, our students, and our families.”
Confetti in red and gold, Central’s colors, soon filled the sky.
Davis, an alumna of Central who was named its president in April 2022 at age 34, is expecting a baby. She will be going to Washington, D.C., in early November to formally accept the award, three weeks before her due date. Her parents were among those in the crowd Monday.
“This is only one small moment in our school’s storied legacy,” Davis said.
To cheers, Superintendent Tony Watlington said the achievement reminded him of basketball legend Michael Jordan, whose Chicago Bulls teams had two separate “three-peats,” or strings of three consecutive championships.
The Blue Ribbon program honors high-performing, often innovative schools, especially those that show progress in closing achievement gaps based on student race and economic status.
Central was one of 356 schools nationwide given the honor this year and one of four in the Philadelphia region. Private and charter schools are also eligible.
Founded in 1836 as a school for boys, Central was first named a Blue Ribbon school in 1987, just four years after the school started admitting girls as the result of a lengthy court battle. It was honored again in 2011.
Since the Blue Ribbon program began in 1982, 15 Philadelphia district schools have been given the honor. Six besides Central have been designated twice, and five of those are high schools with citywide or special admissions criteria. The other is Penn Alexander elementary school, which has a partnership with the University of Pennsylvania. Central is the first city school to be cited three times.
The last Philadelphia district school to get the designation was the Arts Academy at Benjamin Rush in 2022.
Schools don’t apply for the honor. Someone unknown in the Department of Education nominates schools, to which officials send “a comprehensive application about your instructional program, extra curricular programming, mission and values and beliefs,” Davis said. “You engage honestly in a dialogue that goes on for months.”
The last requirement is to meet all the state’s targets for standardized exams, which Central did this year.
The latest information on the district website on student test scores shows that in 2022, just 42% of Central students scored proficient on the state math test — a huge drop from its usual near-perfect figures. District spokesperson Christina Clark said this was because most ninth graders starting high school after the pandemic year chose not to take the state Keystone algebra test that year, as they usually do at Central. They have until 11th grade to sit for the test.
Davis said that this year’s test scores, which will be released to the public soon, will show a huge rebound.
The latest honor also comes after the district moved to an admissions system that puts all qualified students in a lottery, prioritizing students from traditionally underrepresented ZIP codes, rather than relying largely on principal choice. And it is still struggling with significantly increasing the proportion of Black and Latino students to more closely match districtwide enrollment.
“We know as young people came back from COVID, you see real challenges with standardized exams,” she said. “My school has been impacted just as other schools have, but we continue to see improvements.”
Jake Benny, a Central junior who last week was named as an alternate student member of the Board of Education, was among those cheering the announcement.
“It just shows that Central is back, better than ever,” he said.
Dale Mezzacappa is a senior writer for Chalkbeat Philadelphia, where she covers K-12 schools and early childhood education in Philadelphia. Contact Dale at dmezzacappa@chalkbeat.org.
