Anna White helped to pull The Ridings, dubbed the worst school in Britain, back from the brink. This month The Ridings school in Halifax was given a glowing inspection report by Ofsted.
Ms White, the head teacher, described the process as "like climbing Everest."
Anna White took over at the height of The Ridings School's infamy in 1996, when it was closed for a time because staff regarded 60 of the students as unteachable.
By 1998 the school was taken off the failing list.
Ms White, who was awarded the CBE in the 1999 New Year's Honours, said the Ofsted report was "absolutely brilliant".
She said she was "thrilled and overwhelmed" to receive the CBE, which she said she was accepting on behalf of all the teachers, governors and parents who had played their parts in making the school a success.
Mrs White was appointed head teacher while the failing school was in the full glare of bad publicity.
She has now pledged to remain at the school for at least another two years until she sorts out the remaining problems of truancy and low GCSE scores.
She was previously deputy head of nearby Todmorden school.
