After new testing and a recalibrated grading system, the typical Mississippi public school and school district rats as a C under the state’s A-to-F rating system.
The 2015-16 grades, which were released last week by the Mississippi Department of Education, are the first in several years without any waivers. Over the past two years’ schools and districts received the waivers to use higher grades earned because of legislation changes to the teaching standards in tests.
“These results represent a new starting point for measuring the progress of schools and districts across the state,” said Dr. Carey Wright, state superintendent of education. “Superintendents, principals and teachers have all worked diligently to implement higher academic standards and help students achieve better outcomes. Our students’ significant gains on the National Assessment of Educational progress, their rising graduation rate and their achievements in Advanced Placement all show that students are rising to higher expectations.”
Kosciusko School District and Attala County School District graded in-line with the state average, both grading as a C. Kosciusko, who received an A-rating due to a waiver last year, raised its point total to 573 points only 15 points from a B rating.
“Obviously the C-rating is not what we need to be, but we did show growth gains from last year,” said Gina Smith, Kosciusko School District superintendent. “Mississippi traditionally has placed the most emphasis on a proficiency model, but this new model is more of a focus on growth.”
Attala County School received a C-rating with 551 points, which was also a 66-point increase from its 2014-15 point total.
“We were not where we wanted to be and we put a lot of time and effort into growing our students,” said Brian Weaver, Attala County School District superintendent. “Our elementary has done an outstanding job with Greenlee blowing the door off. We still have a lot of areas that we can continue to grow, but it all goes back to those elementary schools and establishing that good foundation and getting our students on grade level.”
Statewide 14 districts were given an A-rating, while 39 were labeled with a B, 36 with a C, 35 with a D and 19 with an F. F-rated schools include Holmes County School District, Noxubee County School District, Montgomery County School District and Jackson Public School District.
“Everybody wants higher standards, but I think some of those higher standards are unobtainable,” Weaver added. “We are assessing students on 2 or 3 grade levels above to grade on the highest level. Our kids are making 2 years’ worth of growth in a year to try to make these assessments possible.”
The 2015-16 accountability grades are based on the results of the Mississippi Assessment Program (MAP) for English language arts and Mathematics. MAP tests were administered to students in grades 3-8 and in high school for the first time during the 2015-16 school year. MAP tests are aligned to the Mississippi College and Career Ready Standards and will continue to be used in future years to assess students statewide.
“We expect to see continued growth on MAP from year to year as teachers maintain high academic standards and students are challenged to meet those standards,” Wright said. “Our students at all levels have proven they can meet, and exceed, rigorous academic standards.”
Because Mississippi students took a new statewide assessment and two new high school components to the accountability system went into effect in 2015-16, the MDE had to reset the point scale for assigning grades.
The accountability system factors in student proficiency, a standards-based growth model and the four-year graduation rate, if the school has a 12th grade. The new high school components include student performance on the ACT and participation and performance in advanced coursework such as Advanced Placement and dual credit/dual enrollment courses.
The system also places an emphasis on student academic growth, particularly the lowest performing 25 percent of students. Students meet growth if their scores improve from one proficiency level to the next, or move sufficiently within the lower proficiency levels.
“The accountability system is designed to present a more transparent picture of how well schools are serving students at all levels,” said Dr. J.P. Beaudoin, chief of research and development at MDE. “The 2015-16 results break the trend lines from previous years and establish a new baseline for measuring progress.”
“Our teachers and students are working extremely hard to be sure that our students are college and career ready, but we just need to be sure we are focusing in the right areas to be sure that our students are meeting the standards that they should be” Smith added.
