The public charter schools bill that is most likely to be debated in the Senate, SB2401, has been introduced. The bill has many of the problems we anticipated, and it needs to be amended so that it has the intended effect: to improve student achievement and provide good options for kids who are trapped in chronically underperforming schools. A strong […]
Charter School Bill Needs Work Read More »
The Mississippi Child Care Quality Step System is designed to provide incentives to improve the quality of existing early childhood education and after-school programs and provide Mississippi children the skills necessary for success in school. This system allows licensed programs that choose to participate to receive monetary rewards (quality bonuses over and above the current
The Mississippi Child Care Quality Step System Read More »
State dropout data on Class of 2010, reported by MDE May 4, 2011: Mississippi’s dropout rate is 17% for the four-year cohort that began with first time 9th graders in the 2006-2007 school year and ended with the 2009-2010 school year. Click here to find school district-level dropout rates. Dropout rates for Class of 2010
Dropout Prevention Statistics and Resources Read More »
A recent Mississippi Economic Council survey revealed that the number one concern of Mississippi business leaders and community stakeholders is education. The survey report states, “Far and away the most significant input, shared by everyone in the state, regards education. Through the stakeholder input forms, every city reported Education as the number one concern for their
Fast Facts About Education in Mississippi Read More »
Education Week has released its Quality Counts “report card” on the nation’s public schools. The good news is that our Standards and Accountability once again received outstanding grades with an overall Standards, Assessment and Accountability grade of B+, ranking us just above the national average and in the top half of all states. Our standards are high and
Good News and Bad News for Mississippi in Quality Counts Report Card Read More »
When the House of Representatives and the Senate fail to agree on any portion of a piece of legislation, conference can be invited by the chamber in which the bill originated in order to work out the differences. When conference is invited, a conference committee is formed to negotiate the compromise. The conference committee is
Conference Committee Read More »
The Mississippi School Boards Association has announced that 20 Mississippi school districts have been recognized as 2010 Lighthouse School Leaders. This recognition is awarded in three categories to districts that reach the highest levels of student achievement: Beacon Awards, Lantern Awards and Torch Awards. The Beacon Award recognizes school districts with a QDI of 200 or above
MSBA Names Lighthouse School Leaders Read More »
The Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) issued a report today showing that Mississippi has made significant gains in student achievement on national measures in the past couple of years. Mississippi students have made significant progress in a number of areas, including: Achieving the largest percentage-point increase in the nation in reading at the Basic Level on the National Assessment of
Mississippi Showing Significant Gains in Student Achievement Read More »
Mississippi typically pays about 24 cents on the dollar to cover Medicaid costs for our state. The federal government pays the additional 76 cents of each Medicaid dollar. In order to help states through the recession, the federal government has reduced to 16 cents on the dollar the portion that states are required to pay,
What is the Enhanced Federal Medicaid Match? Read More »
Communities are rallying around their schools in impressive ways to ensure that schools have what they need to get the job done. Each year, state testing (MCT2, SATP, etc.) provides them the perfect opportunity to show their support for their schools and schoolchildren. Here are just a few of the ways that schools, parents and communities have worked
Communities Support Schools at Test Time Read More »
