Jennifer Wilson, the Superintendent of the Holmes County Consolidated School District (HCCSD), knew turning around the schools’ rankings would be tough. She was the third Superintendent in about five years and only assumed the role after schools in Holmes County, Mississippi had been taken under state-control for low test scores and poor financial management.  

With little resources and time, she had to think hard-and-fast about a game plan. She quickly settled on a simple answer: teachers. 

Wilson stepped into her role with a  zeal for ensuring teachers could perform at their best. In what can be described as creating a culture grounded in collective teacher excellence and community, Wilson built an infrastructure around empowering the school districts’ most critical assets – teachers. 

This year, the  Mississippi Department of Education reported that the HCCSD’s ranking had improved to a B grade.  Gains in test scores swept every grade level and subject area, highlighted by standout proficiency gains such as high school Algebra, which saw a 55 percent increase, and 51 percent proficiency gains in fifth grade science. 

Almost every school in the district scored a “B” grade, marking an impressive  turnaround for a school district the New York Times casted as the poster child of a crisis in America’s rural education.

Nurturing Community Around Teacher Excellence

Teachers play the single most influential role in student learning. 

When they make the biggest difference, however, researchers have begun to uncover, occurs inside schools and when teachers are part of a confident community of teachers who practice teamwork and believe in their collective ability to elevate student performance. 

Learning literature has coined this phenomenon “collective teacher efficacy.” 

Based on over 1,500 meta-analyses, visible learning research found that teachers believing they can make a difference is three times more powerful a predictor of student learning achievement than a student’s socioeconomic background. Things like prior achievement, home environment, and even parental involvement don’t come close.

More importantly, this collective belief must be nurtured with evidence.  With feedback and other learning data, the faculty as whole can act purposefully to achieve their educational goals. When teachers see evidence of what works and experience success, it fuels a belief and the momentum continues. 

Setting up this culture of teacher excellence, Wilson first set expectations for formal, frequent, and productive teacher collaboration, training and feedback. Every Wednesday professional development for teachers and Principals became mandatory.  In-classroom teaching is observed often and feedback is given within 48 hours. Teachers even attended training on Saturdays. 

Teachers, grouped by grade level and subject, collaborate on solving their problems, advancing shared goals, and bringing collective attention to individual students. 

Learning from fellow math teachers and third-grade instructors helped to quicken the learning curve for Aisha Saffold who’s third graders at HCCSD’s William Dean Jr Elementary had the highest elementary math proficiency rates across the district, even though she trained as a social studies teacher. 

Mississippi Delta GEAR UP and Rural Schools 

Like the Holmes County Consolidated School District, schools residing in the most rural parts of the nation are some of the most affected by rural education disparities. Rural school communities are cut-off from traditional resources and face challenges that are deeply rooted in lopsided economics. 

When schools and their communities are resource-starved, the path to improvement isn’t just steep—it’s a multidimensional puzzle. But as HCCSD demonstrates, teachers can change the narrative. 

The Mississippi Delta GEAR UP Partnership has been a collaborative partner in resourcing and assisting with the professional development and capacity support for educators under Wilson’s tenure.  Managed by the Foundation for the Mid South, in collaboration with Casey Family Programs, Delta State University and the Woodward Hines Education Foundation, the Delta GEAR UP effort is designed for rural schools, emphasizing college and career readiness, building a college-bound school culture, and leveraging data insights to inform teaching.  

HCCSD is one of 10 Mississippi school districts in the GEAR UP partnership. GEAR UP bolstered Superintendent Wilson’s vision to invest in teachers offering or facilitating more than 45 days of professional development in the last school year. District math coaches were a component of GEAR UP’s capacity support. 

Beyond the GEAR UP Partnership, empowering teachers and building community for teachers is a key education for the Foundation. Last month, FMS sponsored Mississippi’s inaugural Teachella Expo.  In partnership with Ashley Green, a 15-plus-year educator and founder of Greentree Education Solutions, the Teachella Expo served to raise awareness about resources, build community and inspire  a sense of pride for the teacher community.  

Today, Green specializes in strategies for establishing shared beliefs and helping teachers build a new culture. A former principal and teacher, Green remembers attending many networking and professional conferences. She noticed, however, that no one was intentional about providing for the community element.

“We felt like teachers do not have enough pride. They’re not happy to say, ‘I’m a teacher,’  Green said, “ Sometimes we don’t realize that we’re making a difference in the world until we tell somebody else. They [teachers] don’t even realize that those stories were empowering.”

Teachers have long been an underappreciated part of the labor force. Rural educators especially say they could use more support from school management, the community, and policy leaders to address what amounts to a devaluing of the profession. 

“Lack of support is number two on the list of reasons for the national teacher shortage,” said FMS Education Program manager George Stewart, who has been a teacher in Mississippi for over a decade. “A lot of teachers are leaving because they are lacking community. Events like Teachella allow teachers to unwind, network, and share ideas.”

Last month, the Foundation also collaborated with Reach TV,  America’s largest in-airport television network, to produce a commercial ad in support of Mississippi’s educators and the Delta GEAR UP Partnership. The ad aired during the two live National Football league games on Reach TV screens and on Amazon’s Prime’s live CBS sports coverage

 “We’re not just investing in teacher development, we’re a platform that invites the entire community to the table to create breakthroughs for student success and college readiness,” said FMS CEO Greg Johnson.