Two Howard County schools have been selected as National Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence, the U.S. Department of Education announced this week.

The schools -- Hammond Middle School, a public school in North Laurel, and Resurrection-St. Paul School, a private school in Ellicott City -- are among eight schools in the state and 314 in the country to receive the title this year.

Schools receiving Blue Ribbon status are those that have performed well academically or made marked improvement. Both Resurrection-St. Paul and Hammond were selected based on students' high academic achievement.

Hammond Middle posted some of the highest scores in the county on state assessments, with 95 percent of students passing the 2009 Maryland School Assessments in reading and 93 percent passing in math.

County school officials also praise Hammond Middle for its efforts in other areas, such as its designation as the "Healthy Howard School" by the county health department, and its certification as a "Green School" by the Maryland Association for Environmental and Outdoor Education each year since 2001.

"We are very proud of Hammond Middle School. The school has strong leadership, a very dedicated staff, involved parents and hard working students," Superintendent Sydney Cousin said in a statement.

Resurrection-St. Paul School, a pre-kindergarten through grade eight school that is part of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, also earned the award through high test scores. Students achieve assessment scores in the top 10 percent of schools in the nation, according to a statement posted on the school's Web site. The school enrolls 539 students, according to the Archdiocese of Baltimore.

"Our Catholic schools succeed in providing an academically excellent education to the children of our Archdiocese because of the dedicated teachers, hard-working students, and because of the parents and grandparents who make heroic sacrifices on behalf of their children," Archbishop Edwin O'Brien said in a statement. "This recognition is an affirmation of their efforts."

National Blue Ribbon schools will be honored at an awards ceremony on Nov. 3 in Washington.

-- Jennifer Broadwater

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