Soon after it opened, Crow Island School received an award from the American Institute of Architects as the school most advanced in elementary school design in the United States. Twenty-five years later the institute again recognized Crow Island School by giving to Larry Perkins and Eero Saarinen's sister, Pipsan, representing the original architects, an award for 25 years of architectural design of enduring significance. Crow Island School was referred to as a landmark in design for education which demonstrated that an inspired educational philosophy can be translated into an architecture of continuing function and beauty.

In 1956 Crow Island School was selected by fifty architects and scholars as 12th among all buildings and 1st among schools in the Architectural Record poll to name the "most significant buildings in the past 100 years of architecture in America."

In 1989 the State of Illinois and the United States Department of the Interior National Park Service listed Crow Island School in the National Register of Historic Places.

In 1991 the American School and University Journal established the "Crow Island Award" on recommendation by the American Institute of Architects and educational administrators. The award is presented each year to a school whose facilities exemplify "the marriage of the interior environment to the educational program," as Crow Island School does.

In the Fall of 2015, Crow Island celebrates its 75th year!