Wheeler Middle School is on a roll, no pun intended.

Its leader, Brenda Vierra­-Chun, was named Hawaii Principal of the Year in 2020, and the school has now followed that up with being named a National Blue Ribbon School for 2021.

“This is such an amazing school,” Vierra-Chun said Tuesday. “The faculty and staff are outstanding, the kids are wonderful. The community is great.”

Wheeler is one of three Hawaii schools named Tuesday by U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona as National Blue Ribbon Schools. The other two are Manoa Elementary and Ma‘ema‘e Elementary in Nuuanu. They are among only 325 school winners nationwide.

The prestigious award honors public and private elementary, middle and high schools for academic performance and for progress in closing achievement gaps among student subgroups.

“These types of accomplishments reflect the dedication and commitment of an entire school community,” interim schools Superintendent Keith Hayashi said in a release. “This is a proud moment for the students, teachers, staff and families of Ma‘ema‘e Elementary, Manoa Elementary and Wheeler Middle schools and I congratulate them on this well-deserved achievement.”

At Major Sheldon Wheeler Middle School, located at Wheeler Army Air Field in Wahiawa, the staff must overcome the challenges of a highly transient military population that sees only 30% of the student body stay at the school from sixth grade to the eighth.

Some 97% of the 640-­ member student body comes from military families, and the faculty and staff are often on the move as well, with many military spouses filling in the gaps.

Vierra-Chun said strong systems are in place to help overcome the revolving door.

Among other things, the school addresses the developing needs of individual students by analyzing data weekly, identifying learning gaps and creating intervention plans.

The school also prioritizes student social and emotional well-being by placing every student in small learning groups that result in stronger teacher-student relationships and encourage greater teacher accountability and investment in student outcomes.

As a result, Wheeler’s performance last year exceeded statewide averages in English language arts and math by more than 15 percentage points.

At Nuuanu’s Ma‘ema‘e, faculty and staff have been working especially hard during the pandemic to keep the school’s 670 students excelling while also keeping kids as safe and healthy as possible, according to Principal Lenn Uyeda.

“Our faculty, staff and community — everyone works hard for the kids,” Uyeda said.

Classroom data teams monitor student work to help shape teaching methods that best fit student needs. Ma‘ema‘e was also an early adopter of the Google Suite for Education, used schoolwide for student online learning, assignments and assessments and also for teacher, counselor and parent communications. The digital system has helped to elevate an already strong tradition of parent engagement and community support.

Ma‘ema‘e Elementary’s performance exceeded statewide averages in English language arts by over 18 percent- age points and in math by 27 percentage points.

“Our staff is awesome,” Uyeda said. “But this award goes to everybody in the Ma‘ema‘e ‘ohana.”

At Manoa Elementary, Principal Jason Okamoto is new this year, so he wasn’t around for the achievement that helped win the award under Ryan Kusuda, who is now at Waikiki Elementary.

“It’s an amazing school,” Okamoto said of Manoa. “As an outsider, it makes sense. They deserve it. I’m just proud to be able to share it with them.”

The school’s performance exceeded statewide averages in English language arts by over 20 percentage points and in math by 26 percentage points.

Among other things, the school with 502 students is known for its strong robotics team, which has captured the Hawaii State Championship Tournament Excellence Award for the past three years.

The Manoa Association of Parents and Teachers is credited with providing support and resources to help keep parents and students engaged with the greater community.

Okamoto said he’s lucky to have been chosen to lead such an outstanding school.

“We will be celebrating,” he said. “Now we need to figure out how to involve everyone.”