Individualized Teaching Pays Off for Middle School On the Coast

Greenhouse at Long Beach Middle School

Four schools in Mississippi have earned the prestigious honor of being named a nationwide Blue Ribbon School. MPB’s Phoebe Judge reports on what one of those schools on the Coast did to garner the award.

A group of seventh and eighth graders are standing on a stage performing a skit during a drama class at Long Beach Middle School. Long Beach Middle school, with its 645 students, was one of four schools in the state and 314 in the nation to receive the distinction of being named a Blue Ribbon School for academic achievement by the U.S. Department of Education. Teacher Deborah Holt says one of the reasons for the schools success is that they don’t just focus on scoring well on tests,

“I believe that it is more than just the test scores. I believe that we are preparing students for life. I think that is the larger issue here that we want students to leave Long Beach school district and be prepared for life.”

Long Beach Middle School uses some of the latest technology for teaching, including classrooms equipped with laptops and projection systems, and spends a great deal of time on professional development and teaching strategies. Principle Mary Jean Harvey says the greatest tool may be understanding that all children learn differently,

“You almost have to individualize your teaching, your plans, to individual children. You still have the same curriculum. We have a guaranteed curriculum, so we don’t water down our curriculum for those who can’t get it, it’s just you may have to show different teaching strategies to those kids.”

But it’s not all celebrating at Long Beach Middle School. Principle Harvey says her big concern now is how she is going to maintain her school’s Blue Ribbon status while trying to deal with the mandatory statewide education budget cuts which will affect her school district by $600,000 dollars.