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HARRISON COUNTY, Miss. (WXXV)-Pineville Elementary School was recognized Monday for its commitment to building stronger readers.
The Mississippi Department of Education presented the school with a 2026-27 Mississippi Emerging Science of Reading School Award.
Pineville Elementary celebrated a milestone in literacy education.
The recognition honors schools that train teachers in the science of reading, while also showing a commitment to changing instructional practices. Pineville Elementary Principal Abby Engle said, “It is such an honor to be a principal of such an amazing school community. This award just means everything to us and it shows us that we have a commitment to literacy k through 6th grade and to make lifelong learners. Our teachers and staff are so very dedicated and hardworking and just hours, days and months and years of planning and working together to ensure every student feel successful.”
Only 15 elementary schools across Mississippi received the Emerging Science of Reading designation for the 2026-27 school year. Three of those schools are right here on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
Along with Pineville Elementary, Waveland Elementary and North Bay Elementary also received the honor. Harrison County Superintendent William Bentz said, “What happened today doesn’t happen overnight. It takes the parents, community, and the administration to provide instructional leadership. For our teachers, it takes the teachers to be willing to learn and just like I told the students, somebody’s gotta read it. They have pieced that puzzle together and accomplished this and what an accomplishment to be recognized for their instructional practices and learning to read and reading to learn. Our teachers get faced with so many different things, but one thing stands at their core and that’s their love for children and it’s very obvious. When they wanted to accomplish this, they took it on, they put in the time, the time after work, the dedication to be students of reading themselves and to ensure that gets pushed onto the students and the students accepted that challenge and we are so proud of them as a school district to make that happen.”

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