- The State of Education also heard more on how Mississippi’s students fared in the recently announced national assessments.
The Mississippi State Board of Education heard of upcoming changes to the state’s accountability model during its recent meeting. The Board was also informed that efforts are underway to hire more than 20 reading coaches.
Reading Coaches
During Thursday’s meeting, State Superintendent Dr. Lance Evans told the Board that MDE is seeking to hire an additional 22 reading coaches, to get the state’s number back up to 60.
Even though that number will increase the state’s student to coach ratio, Evans said that is not the real goal.
“Our model is not a tutoring model,” Evans described. “Our model is a coaching model in which we build capacity of the teachers to continue to work.”
Dr. Donna Boone, MDE’s Chief Academic Officer, said those additional coaches will play a part in the creation of an adolescent literacy pilot program aimed at students in grades 4 through 8.
Changes to the Accountability Model
An adjustment to the accountability model is now required, given that more than 85.7 percent of public schools are rated at a C or higher.
Alan Burrow, MDE’s Executive Director of District and School Performance, described some of the basic changes, noting the need to reset the A to F rating standard for schools and districts, using a new readiness component in the areas of acceleration and College and Career Readiness, and removing U.S. History from the state’s accountability measures.
High schools will still be rated on a 1,000-point scale but with U.S. History no longer playing a part in that scoring, additional points are being allocated to College and Career Readiness and acceleration.
This year, a new English language proficiency test will be utilized, the ELPA, which will replace the current LAS Links test. The new test will be administered starting next month and will result in an adjustment to the way progress is measured.
“So, we have a new assessment this year. The assessment is not comparable to the prior, so that causes some complications in how we measure progress from one year to the next,” Burrow described. “It also changes how we need to reflect those progress measures and so we see this as an opportunity to refine the accountability model around English language progress.”
The current goal is for English language learners to be proficient within five years, but a study conducted nationwide, in which Mississippi was a participant, determined those individuals actually need six years. As a result, Burrow suggested making that change.
Recent Assessments
The Board of Education also heard how Mississippi fared in the National Assessment of Education Progress, also known as the Nation’s Report Card. Before covering the results, Burrow reminded the Board that the test is administered in samples, meaning not every student takes the test, and no participant is provided with the entirety of a test. That means sampling errors are to be expected, Burrow said.
In the area of 4th grade math, the state’s proficiency score increased by 6 percent from 2022 and increased by 12 percent when compared to results from 2013. Burrow added that Mississippi is close to the national average in that category.
“Mississippi was one of 13 states that had a significant improvement in 4th grade math from 2022 and 4th grade math was the only subject and grade to show significant improvement nationally from 2022,” Burrow noted.
In 8th grade math, Mississippi fell slightly below the national average, a fact that Burrow attributed to the state’s continued efforts to move beyond the COVID pandemic.
Mississippi’s 8th grade math results showed the number of students scoring proficient or advanced were up 4 percent from 2022, and up one percent from results from 2013. He added the national average has continued to drop during that same period.
In 4th grade reading, Mississippi’s students showed the most improvement compared to the rest of the nation, with a one percent improvement in students testing proficient or advanced from 2022. That scoring is up 11 percent from 2013.
Results in 8th grade reading showed a one percent increase in students scoring proficient or advanced compared to results from 2022, and a three percent increase from 2013, Burrow said.
Jeremy Pittari
