Source: Whittier Daily News
http://www2.whittierdailynews.com/news/ci_3070399
On September 28, 2005 the Whittier Daily News reported, "New Horizon, a private Islamic school [in Pasadena, California] has been awarded the Blue Ribbon, the highest award the U.S. Department of Education bestows to recognize academic excellence. Interim school head Amira Al-Sarraf believes that New Horizon is the first Islamic school to earn this award. The distinction means the school's students scored in the top 10 percent of the nation in standardized math and reading tests. But Al-Sarraf said the school, now with 170 students, has seen a decline in enrollment over the last few years; the drop leads Al-Sarraf to believe the decrease could be a reaction to Sept. 11, 2001... The school has not received any overt anti-Islamic backlash or threats, [so] Al-Sarraf attributes the decline either to economic issues or a fear in the Islamic community of publicly identifying themselves as Muslims... [But] the school's small enrollment -- spread across nine grades and two campuses -- has its upside. The small class sizes allow teachers to offer personal attention to their students, yielding top academic results."