(October 02, 2007 -- Minneapolis Star Tribune) Eight Minnesota schools are among 287 in the country to be named as 2007 No Child Left Behind Blue Ribbon Schools, U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings said today. Among those schools are: Park Rapids Area Century Elementary School (Mitch Peterson, principal) in Park Rapids; and J.W. Smith Elementary School (Patricia Welte, principal) in Bemidji.

The award is the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. Department of Education and is given to schools that challenge students to perform at high academic levels and make significant progress in closing the achievement gap between highest- and lowest-performing students.