Lawrence’s Woodlawn School, 508 Elm St., has to chance apply for a prestigious national award due to its progress on trying to close the achievement gap.

Interim Kansas education commissioner Diane DeBacker announced five nominees on Tuesday for the 2010 National Blue Ribbon Schools Awards that she will send to the U.S. Department of Education.

“It’s a national recognition, so it’s an extremely high honor, and we feel like here at Woodlawn that we’re just really proud,” Principal Jeanne Fridell said.

Broken Arrow School was a 2009 award winner.

The program honors elementary and secondary schools that have made significant progress in closing the achievement gap. It also recognizes schools that have at least 40 percent of their students from disadvantaged backgrounds and have improved performance in reading and math.

Other than Woodlawn, the schools selected in that category are Franklin Elementary School in Junction City and Lakeside Intermediate School in Cawker City.

Garden Plain High School and St. George Elementary School were nominated due to their high scores in reading and math. The winners will be announced in September 2010.