Henrico's Nuckols Farm Elementary School was one of nine Virginia schools named a 2012 National Blue Ribbon School today.

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan visited Arlington Traditional Elementary School in Arlington County earlier today to announce the schools that earned the designation.

The Blue Ribbon Schools Program honors public and private K-12 schools that are either academically superior or that demonstrate dramatic gains in student achievement.
 
Nuckols Farm was the only school in the Richmond region honored today.
 
“Each of these schools is at the center of a community where students, parents, teachers, the principal and everyone else at the school — from the office staff to the bus drivers — share high expectations for learning and achievement,” Virginia Superintendent of Public Instruction Patricia I. Wright said.

Nuckols Farm and six of the other schools earned awards earlier this year through the Virginia Index of Performance program. Nuckols Farm earned the Governor’s Award for Educational Excellence.
 
The U.S. Department of Education will honor all of the nation’s 2012 National Blue Ribbon Schools during a conference and awards ceremony Nov. 12-13 in Washington, DC.