Dighton teacher awarded national Milken award

DIGHTON, Mass. (WLNE) — A Dighton Elementary School teacher was awarded the Milken Educator Award Wednesday morning.

Leigh Beson, a Title I reading interventionist, was awarded $25,000 for helping her students reach their potential in literacy and beyond.

Beson is a former first-grade teacher of more than a decade, who now works with students with reading intervention, and is one of 35 teachers across the United States to be awarded the Milken award for the 2022-23 school year.

She’s the only educator in Massachusetts to receive the designation this school year.

Beson is also the first-ever Dighton-Rehoboth Regional School District educator to be awarded the Milken.

The Milken Educator Award has been dubbed the “Oscars” of education awards, due to the exclusive club of winners, and the selective, confidential selection process that is hand-picked by the Milken Educator Network.

“You work in your little classroom all day in your bubble and you don’t expect anyone to notice what you’re doing,” Beson said after receiving her award. “I have three children and a three-month-old that I just came back last week from, so it would be nice to put some [of the money] away, and save for college.”

For Beson, her weekly craft projects and emphasis on collaboration have had most of her students meeting grade-level expectations every year. But even after more than a decade of dedication and hard work it still came as a complete surprise to her when her name was called.

In addition to the money, the winners also receive an all-expenses paid trip to Los Angeles later this month, where all 35 winners will meet and discuss how they can increase their impact on K-12 education.