Biloxi has one of the Top 10 school districts in Mississippi, according to results of statewide testing, and the numbers had Biloxi Public Schools on the cusp of being named a Star district.
The Biloxi school board on Tuesday recognized dozens of students, teachers and administrators whose work propelled Biloxi from No. 20 to No. 9 in state rankings. The six-school district also grew from having one star school and three successful schools to having three star schools and three high performing schools.
“We missed becoming a Star district by five points,” Superintendent Arthur McMillan told the standing-room-only crowd at the Biloxi school board meeting. “We were only eight points off the second place school, and we were the third highest on the Coast, and only one point behind Ocean Springs.”
The outstanding numbers, McMillan cautioned, meant the hard work must continue.
“Growth is what it’s all about in all of the federal testing models,” said McMillan, who came to Biloxi from Enterprise, a small school district that topped state rankings. “The models are all concerned about whether you grow that student an academic year. And it’s not about growing the class an academic year; you are graded on whether each student grows an academic year. It’s crucial for us to keep growing this way because we want our student to compete in a global marketplace.”
See the photos: To see dozens of images from the school board meeting, click here.
By the numbers
Here are charts to show students and teachers who were recognized Tuesday evening:
How the individual schools in the district and the district itself fared in testing click here.
The best of the best secondary teachers
