Last night, we attended the Biggersville Elementary academic awards program and sixth grade promotion ceremony. My children make me blessed AGAIN this year. Ty had his awards program the other day during school. Granny wasn't well that day so I didn't get to go. He did really well also.
But this post isn't to brag on my children. This post is to tell you about our wonderful school and the people who work there everyday to make it so.
When I was in the 8th grade, I joined the students at Biggersville. I transferred after the school year had begun. My mom was a teacher there but I still didn't know many people. If you know anything about me, you know I was incredibly shy. I remember entering class that day, and all eyes turning toward the door and to me as I walked in. This shy girl didn't have to stay scared for long because I was immediately "embraced" by my classmates.
It was different there than it was at my old school. On break, all of the students (7th-12th grade) intermingled in the hallway. It didn't seem to matter who was an upperclassman or who wasn't. No one cared what kind of jeans the other person wore. No one cared how much money your parents had. The students seemed to judge one another by who they were and not by their material possessions, what important relative you could claim, or even by the color of your skin.
I graduated there, I worked there in the summers and I married a man who became a teacher there. As the years passed I became more and more vested in the school.
After our children were born, I began to think about where they would go to school. We went to church in town, lived in town, and most of the children's friends would be going to Corinth. My younger sister and brother graduated there because my mom was a teacher there. I knew Corinth and the other county schools had better classrooms, better labs, better sports facilities and more arts programs. They offered a wider array of subjects to choose from beyond the basic, required curriculum. Several families that I knew who lived in Biggersville school district and were BHS alumni, chose to send there children to other schools. I became confused. I wasn't sure that Biggersville had enough to offer my gifted children.
When I complained about the science lab that was two times older than I was, when I complained about no drama program, when I complained about the fact that there was only one Spanish and no other language option, when I ranted about the fact that the school received nothing the other schools got, Eric reminded me that I went to school there and that I wasn't stupid as a result. He reminded me of the degrees held by many of the classmates I attended school with.
When it came time to send Ty to kindergarten, we had already decided that we wanted him to be with his daddy. All of the teachers seemed to already love my child. They were excited about him coming to be at school with them. I had heard nothing but kind words about Ms. Melanie and Ms. Janet. It was a good thing.
As the years have gone by and 3 of our 4 living children have gone to school there, we have never regretted keeping them "home". They have been loved and nurtured. My children aren't limited here. They are challenged in ways they couldn't be elsewhere. They are building character.
I love the fact that they see each other at school all day. With one class for every grade, they have shared teachers and the same 2 hallways for all these years. Ty is "across the road" now at the Jr./Sr. high school. He has some of the same teachers I had. Some of the teachers were my classmates.
Recently, the Mississippi Department of Education announced that Biggersville High School had been awarded a Bronze Medal on the "Best High Schools Rankings".
Read how U.S. News and World Report arrived at these results:
"A three-step process determined the Best High Schools. The first two steps ensured that the schools serve all of their students well, using performance on state proficiency tests as the benchmarks. For those schools that made it past the first two steps, a third step assessed the degree to which schools prepare students for college-level work."
(I am including the criteria for only the first two steps because the third step was inapplicable for Biggersville.)
• Step 1: The first step determined whether each school's students were performing better than statistically expected for the average student in the state. We started by looking at reading and math results for all students on each state's high school proficiency tests.
We then factored in the percentage of economically disadvantaged students (who tend to score lower) enrolled at the school to identify the schools that were performing better than statistical expectations.
• Step 2: For those schools that made it past this first step, the second step determined whether the school's least-advantaged students (black, Hispanic and low-income) were performing better than average for similar students in the state.
We compared each school's math and reading proficiency rates for disadvantaged students with the statewide results for these student groups and then selected schools that were performing better than this state average.
According to the report, 73% of Biggersville's total enrollment is "economically disadvantaged". Eric and I are in the other 27% there. I would describe us as "economically breaking even" as I am sure most of the other 27% would describe themselves as well.
"The Poverty Factor" refers to Georgia public schools but Mississippi ranks higher than Georgia on the list of children living in poverty in the state at 32%.
The worst-performing public schools tend to be in the poorest zip codes, while most successful public schools are in more affluent zip codes. The dropout rate of students in low-income families is more than four times greater than the rate of students from higher-income families. In Georgia, economically disadvantaged kids are about four times more likely than their higher-income counterparts to score below standards on the almighty CRCT (Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests).
The report from U.S. News and World Report shows that Biggersville is bridging the gap. Being "economically disadvantaged" doesn't mean you will automatically be "academically disadvantaged". That is something to be really proud of.
These results aren't because we have better classrooms. because we don't. These results aren't because we have better materials, because we don't. These results aren't because we have the best science labs, because we don't.
These results come from community, hard work, and a WHOLE LOT of LOVE.
To be a teacher anywhere and make a difference requires a lot of personal sacrifice. I know. I am from a family of teachers. I don't want to make less of teachers everywhere. But I suggest to you from the statistics from the report that the teachers at schools like Biggersville are going above and beyond the call of duty and that statistically speaking, MORE of their students have LESS. These teachers are doing MORE with LESS resources. This requires MORE of them to achieve these results; MORE SUPPORT, MORE TIME, MORE PATIENCE. They also get LESS thanks or at least thanks of a different kind. I would be surprised if an expensive piece of pottery or gift cards to nice restaurants land on their desks very often. (They might only get a long blog post dedicated to them from a sincere heart. Yes, a very different kind of thanks.)
These are just a few of the faces that make a difference in my kids every day. (These teachers were such stars we couldn't get to all of them to get our pictures made.) They do it everyday, month after month, and year after year. When I describe Biggersville to people who aren't from here, I always say, "It's like a small private school, except everyone gets to come." I often cry a little when I say it.
Our children are to be taught at home, first and foremost. But often, the world around us wants to confuse what we have been taught at home. I saw what my parents taught me in action at this school. I pray my children see what we have taught them there as well.
-You may not have what everyone else has but you have enough. Your achievement depends on your own personal work ethic and determination.
-Everyone gets a chance to be your friend. You don't exclude them automatically because they aren't like you.
-People are more important than things. Possessions do not define you.
-Always remember Whose you are and always strive to make Him proud.
-Rejoice in how far you go but never be ashamed of where you came from.
-You don't have to "go big, or go home". Being small or doing small things makes a big difference sometimes.
-You can always come home.
Kossuth and Corinth High schools were awarded the bronze medal as well. The percentage of economically disadvantaged at Kossuth High school was 50% and at Corinth High School, 52%. Biggersville does not offer AP or IB courses therefore were not scored on college readiness. And if you would like to argue with me about the difference in the resources of these schools and Biggersville's, I would love to accompany you on a tour of all three schools.
(Bronze medals: An additional 2,515 high schools that passed the first two steps in the methodology were awarded bronze medals and are listed alphabetically. A bronze medal school either does not offer any AP or IB courses, or its college readiness index was less than the median of 14.8 needed to be ranked silver.)
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Love it. So true.
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