School Accountability

Get this: if your third grader is reading at a seventh-grade level, Mississippi does not consider her to be “advanced.” She won’t hit the advanced mark unless she reads at the nationally-normed 8.1 grade level, according to the cut scores set for Mississippi’s 2015 state test. To be considered proficient, your third grader had to perform at […]

Wow! What a terrific start to the school year! We have loved seeing the amazing back-to-school photos and videos lighting up Facebook and Twitter: colorful classrooms, creative getting-to-know-you games, and brain-stretching learning activities. Teachers are fired up and ready for another outstanding year. Be sure to check out your own school district web site for

School ratings for 2015 are out. See district ratings here and school ratings here. “Yep, just what we thought.” That’s the likely response to today’s ratings from Mississippi parents and educators who feel their public schools have been set up to fail by a hostile legislature. While our national test scores are steadily rising, ratings governed by state officials

School district ratings for 2015 are coming later this week. And it just got a whole lot harder to make a good grade. This is the first set of grades for schools using a new assessment (2015 PARCC) and the first state test given online. Both are likely to drive down district grades. Fewer than one percent

School rankings and ratings can sometimes mask extraordinary work. That’s the take-away from our deep dive into Mississippi’s test data. We looked at math and language proficiency rates on Mississippi’s 2012-2013 state tests (most recent available by subgroup), comparing poor and non-poor students in C-rated school districts to those in districts rated A and B, and found that:

Scores from last spring’s state testing have been released, and they are very much in line with expectations. These tests for grades 3 through 8 were aligned with the more challenging subject matter that is now being taught in Mississippi classrooms. Statewide, 59 percent of 3rd through 8th grade students scored in the top three

The Mississippi Department of Education adopted more rigorous standards in 2010 in an effort to bring the achievement of Mississippi students in line with that of their peers in other states. The Mississippi College- and Career-Readiness Standards outline the skills that each student should master at each academic grade level in English/Language Arts and Math.

All Mississippi students, including those with disabilities, should be provided a free and appropriate education to ensure that they have every opportunity to lead successful, independent lives. Recently, the education of children with special needs has received a good bit of well-deserved attention. Unfortunately, in most cases, only partial information, some of which has been

The Mississippi Department of Education has released the 2014 school and school district accountability ratings. However, these ratings in part reflect results of MCT2 tests, which districts were required to administer, even though most districts had transitioned to teaching under the new standards. Because what was tested was not what was taught, districts were told