Green Ribbon Schools Award Program
Information to assist schools in applying to the California Department of Education Green Ribbon Schools Award.The California Green Ribbon Schools (CA-GRS) recognition award honors Kindergarten (K)–12 schools, school districts, and County Offices of Education that demonstrate exemplary achievement in three key areas: resource efficiency, health and wellness, and environmental and sustainability education. This recognition is part of a broader statewide effort to identify and promote effective practices that enhance student engagement, academic performance, graduation rates, and career readiness.
Public and private K–12 schools, early learning centers, school districts, and County Offices of Education in California are eligible to apply for recognition through the California Department of Education (CDE), based on their level of achievement. Each year, CDE designates the top five highest-scoring applicants as Green Achievers—the state’s highest honor—who are celebrated at the annual California School Recognition Program ceremony. Awards for private schools are conferred in collaboration with the California Association of Private School Organizations.
All CA-GRS honorees are typically announced in the spring and formally recognized at a statewide award ceremony held annually.
Interested applicants should first complete the 2026-27 Application Interest Survey. Beginning June 2026, schools and districts completing the survey will receive a school or district application to complete online. The survey and the online application period will close at 12:00 P.M. PST on November 9, 2026.
Application reviews will be based on the applicant's demonstrated progress towards reaching the goals of each of the three CA-GRS Pillars, which are:
- Pillar I: Provide effective environmental education, which teaches many disciplines, and is especially good at effectively incorporating Science, Technology,
Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM), civic skills, and green career pathways - Pillar II: Improve the health and wellness of schools, students, and staff
- Pillar III: Reduce environmental impact and costs
Applicants will be recognized in the following manner:
- Bronze Level: Achievement of 55.0 - 64.9%
- Silver Level: Achievement of 65.0 - 74.9%
- Gold Level: Achievement of 75% or better
- Green Achievers: The top five performers each year receive the highest recognition as Green Achievers and are recognized in the California School Recognition Program.
Four items to keep in mind when applying:
- When preparing your responses to questions, be sure to focus on three critical ideas:
- Saturation: the number of students reached with achievement
- Longevity: the length of time achievement has been active
- Evidence:
- Describe your achievements in detail using measurements and detailed descriptions. Explain the relevance of student projects, products, and activities to environmental literacy and sustainability.
- Make sure to show and don't just tell. Reviewers are sitting hundreds of miles away from your school and have no frame of reference or context for what you are doing. Do the best you can to use your words to paint a picture.
- Avoid leaving questions empty whenever possible. Partial credit is given for developing achievements.
- Include all relevant information in each pillar (section). Our application reviewers only read one pillar of your application. Therefore, it is important to restate achievements throughout the application whenever they are relevant to the pillar.
- Review prior applications. You can view past Green Achievers' applications for inspiration from the 2025 Green Achiever Selectees and from the Past Green Achiever Selectees web pages.
Resources
Resources to Assist in the Completion of the Application
California Green Ribbon Schools Selectees
Connect With Us
If you would like to receive Green Ribbon program updates via email notification, subscribe to the Green Ribbon listserv by sending a "blank" message to join-green-ribbon@mlist.cde.ca.gov. If you would like to unsubscribe from the Green Ribbon listserv, send a "blank" message to unsubscribe-green-ribbon@mlist.cde.ca.gov.