The President’s Education Award ended. What can schools use in 2027?
Yes, it has ended. The U.S. Department of Education discontinued the President’s Education Awards Program effective September 2026, so there will be no certificates or letters for spring 2027 (checked 22 Oct 2026). Your school can still recognize the same students in its own name, with its own criteria.
What the program was
Principals used it to recognize graduating students in grades K to 12, at public, private and military base schools and in homeschool programs. It had two awards:
- Academic Excellence (gold seal), for high academic performance.
- Academic Achievement (silver seal), for strong growth, improvement, commitment or intellectual development.
The principal had the final say on who received one, often with teachers’ input. Certificates were free to download, and pins, cords and folders were sold separately.
What changed in September 2026
- No new certificates or letters. The Department marked its program pages as historical and says it ended the program as part of returning education to the state level.
- Awards already given still count. A student who received one in an earlier year can keep listing it.
- The Department kept other national programs, but they choose a small number of students across the country. None of them is an award every school can give.
What schools can do this spring
- Check with your district or state. Some may start their own award. A local award counts for more with families than any outside one.
- Keep your criteria and give your own award. Many schools will simply keep a gold and a silver tier under the school’s name. Write the criteria down now so teachers can keep nominating the same way.
- Use a free tool that makes the certificates checkable. Laurelroll is building free academic awards that open in January 2027. The principal pastes a list of names, picks Excellence or Achievement, and prints a certificate for each student with a code anyone can check. It stores names only, with no grades or scores. It is our own recognition, not the President’s Education Award, and not a government award.
A note on look-alike awards
Expect private programs that borrow the old name or seal colors, some with a fee per student. Read who runs a program before you pay, and be wary of any that suggests a government connection.
Questions
Is the President’s Education Awards Program coming back?
Nothing says so. The Department of Education marked its program pages as historical and says it ended the program in September 2026. Check ed.gov for any change.
Can students still list an award they already received?
Yes. The award was real when it was given. Only new awards have stopped.
Can a school still call its award “academic excellence”?
Yes, those are ordinary words. What a school should avoid is suggesting its own award comes from the President or the federal government.