The saying ‘good things come in small packages’ aptly describes how the size of Littlefork-Big Falls High School does not exclude it from big acknowledgments.
The school of 155 students and 11 teachers was recognized last week by U.S. News & World Report as one of the top schools in the nation. The honor, according to school officials, is nothing short of a proud one for all those involved.
“It’s a real credit to our staff, students and parents,” L-BF Superintendent Fred Seybert told The Journal. “We’re very pleased and honored by this.”
Each year, the American news magazine evaluates more than 21,000 public high schools in 49 states and the District of Columbia. Schools are awarded gold, silver or bronze medals based on state proficiency standards and how well they prepare students for college. L-BF received a bronze medal.
“Now we have a bar that we will continue to raise each year,” Seybert said.
The superintendent along with the school’s principal, Christopher Bachmeier, said the recognition will motivate the school to perform better in the future.
“I’m happy with where we are at, but I’m not satisfied,” Bachmeier said. “I know we can do better.”
According to www.usnews.com, to produce the 2013 U.S. News & World Report Best High Schools rankings, U.S. News teamed up with the Washington, D.C.-based American Institutes for Research, one of the largest behavioral and social science research organizations in the world.
AIR implemented U.S. News’ comprehensive rankings methodology, which is based on the key principles that a high school must serve all of its students well, not just those who are college-bound, and that it must be able to produce measurable academic outcomes to show the school is successfully educating its student body across a range of performance indicators.
Seybert noted that L-BF students achieve test scores that are above the state average in reading and math. See box for score percentages calculated by usnews.com.
“We spend a lot of time on our curriculum development,” Seybert said. “That is one of the reasons we can function on a high level for test scores.”
Last year, L-BF was recognized for landing in the top 15 percent of high-performance Title I schools in the state.
The recognition, classified as a rewards school by the Minnesota Department of Education, was given to 128 schools in the category.
“We’ve been recognized for our exceptional test scores before and we will again,” Seybert said. “We’re very proud of the performance in our school.”
In addition to evaluating performance on state proficiency tests, the U.S. News team also assessed the degree to which schools prepare students for college-level work. Both Seybert and Bachmeier feel this area is one that will see great improvement for L-BF next year as a ‘college in the classroom’ effort is established.
“That’ll be the trigger for us next year,” Seybert said. “Hopefully we can be brought up to a silver, if not a gold, medal.”
With college in the classroom, Bachmeier said students will have the opportunity to earn college credits without leaving the building. Thus, the high school experience will not be lost like it may if students were seeking college credits through the Post-Secondary Enrollment Option program.
“College in the classroom is going to move us to a higher level,” he said. “It is very exciting that we will be able to offer this.”
The two men also credited the bronze medal to the school’s advances in technology. Seybert said iPads were piloted at the beginning of the school year and he is hopeful they will be used on a one-on-one basis with both elementary and high school grade levels next school year.
“We’re trying to be as cutting edge technology-wise as ever,” Bachmeier said. “We’re giving kids technological skills and have taken some big strides in this effort.”
Administrators said while credit for L-BF’s recognition can be given to the student-teacher ratio the school offers, the technology and the test scores, the real driving force behind the school’s success is the positive atmosphere to which students and staff are exposed.
“We have such a positive working and learning environment here,” Seybert said. “Kids like to be here, staff likes to be here, and a lot of that credit can be given to our school board. The board is not one that micro manages. Board members set our policy and direct administration, but they let us do our job and that is why things run as smoothly as they do.”
