MDE releases pandemic-era school and district grades for 2021-22

 

Mississippi schools and districts will earn new grades for the first time since 2019 when the Mississippi State Board of Education (SBE) approves accountability grades Thursday, Sept. 29, for the 2021-22 school year. The grades reflect how student achievement has improved after declining during the early part of the pandemic.

Approximately 81 percent of schools and 87 percent of districts will be rated C or higher for the 2021-22 school year. Though overall grades appear to have improved since 2019, state officials advise caution when interpreting score changes between the 2018-19 and 2021-22 school years. In particular, substantial shifts in performance may be temporarily influenced by factors associated with pandemic disruptions.

“The pandemic not only disrupted teaching and learning, it also impacted the state’s accountability system that evaluates the effectiveness of schools and districts,” said Dr. Kim Benton, state superintendent of education, interim. “While we are encouraged by the tremendous growth, it is especially important this year to look at all the components that make up each school and district grade to get a complete picture of student growth and achievement.”

 

Schools in Lincoln County

The two public school districts in Lincoln County scored “C” (Brookhaven School District, 590 of 700 points) and “B” (Lincoln County School District, 646 of 700 points).

Within the Brookhaven School District, Lipsey School received a “B” grade, and the other campuses each received a “C” — Brookhaven Elementary, Mamie Martin, Alexander Jr. High and the high school.

City schools Superintendent Dr. Rod Henderson said he is proud of the work done across the district.

“Lipsey was a ‘D.’ They raised themselves up. I’m very poud of that. They worked hard,” Henderson said. “I’m proud of all of our schools, our teachers and staff.”

In spite of struggles over the past couple of years with COVID-19 and severe storms causing instructional time to be missed, the superintendent said progress has been made. The district increased its accountability score by 34 points from 556 in 2019 — at the time a historic high — to a 590, just nine points shy of a “B.” Lipsey improved by 88 points.

The district showed increases in student proficiency from the previous year across nearly all tested subjects and grade levels, Henderson said. Proficiency rates in third and sixth-grade math even surpassed the state average. The percentage of students meeting or exceeding standards showed a marked increase and all high school subjects tested increased their average scores.

“To be able to be where we are is great. We want to be even better, but I am proud of where we are because we have gone up in several areas,” he said.

In the county school district, West Lincoln led the pack with an “A.” Bogue Chitto and Enterprise each received a “B” grade, while Loyd Star had a “D.”

“Our schools did well overall,” said Lincoln County Superintendent Dr. David Martin. “Our students, staff, and parents have worked extremely hard over these past few years to keep our students on track and growing. These scores are important and useful, but are only a small sample of what all our district has accomplished through the pandemic. We are very proud of the gains that all the schools have made in certain areas and will use the data to determine areas that need improvement. As a district we are proud of all the efforts and support by our stakeholders to have maintained a B rating.”

 

Scoring system

Statewide student assessment data make up a large part of accountability grades. In 2021-22, the overall percentage of students scoring proficient and advanced mostly returned to pre-pandemic rates; however, the percentage of students scoring in the bottom two achievement levels increased. The state assessment system has five levels, minimal, basic, passing, proficient and advanced.

Mississippi’s schools and districts are graded on an A-F scale. The grades are part of the state’s accountability system, which helps teachers, school leaders, parents and communities know how well their local schools and districts are serving their students. The 2021-22 school and district grades were impacted by key factors involving student achievement decline in 2020-21, testing waivers and one-year adjustments to the accountability system.

The calculation of the state’s A-F accountability grades relies heavily on the amount of progress students make in English Language Arts (ELA) and Mathematics from one year to the next, particularly the lowest performing 25 percent of students. Overall, students made significant progress between 2020-21 and 2021-22, as schools focused on accelerating learning after the first year of the pandemic. In addition, the passing requirements for high school Algebra I, English II, Biology and U.S. History assessments were waived in 2020-21, which will affect the graduation rate until all students who tested under the waivers graduate.

Dr. Chris Domaleski, associate director of the National Center for the Improvement of Educational Assessment and chair of the Mississippi Department of Education Technical Advisory Committee, said the 2021-22 grades should always be viewed in the context of the pandemic.

“Schooling has been disrupted for more than two years, which affected the way students learned and were assessed,” Domaleski said. “However, the department responded to these disruptions by making appropriate adjustments to the accountability system while maintaining consistency where possible. This enables the state to continue to provide valuable information about school and district performance in 2021-2022.”

Federal law requires all states to assess students annually in ELA and Mathematics in grades 3-8 and once during high school. Mississippi law requires schools and districts to earn annual A-F grades based on student performance and growth.

Mississippi’s accountability system includes the following components:

• Student proficiency and growth rates in ELA and Mathematics in grades 3-8
• Growth of the lowest performing 25 percent of students in ELA and Mathematics
• Science proficiency in grades 5 and 8
• English Learner progress toward becoming proficient in the English language
• Performance on the ACT and high school Algebra I, English II, Biology and U.S. History assessments
• Student participation and performance in advanced coursework such as Advanced Placement and dual credit/dual enrollment courses
• Four-year graduation rate

The SBE temporarily adjusted the statewide accountability system in 2021-22 to calculate A-F grades and determine federally required school improvement designations. Adjustments were needed because the cancellation of assessments in spring 2020 resulted in some students lacking scores to calculate growth.

The U.S. Department of Education (USED) granted waivers to states from federal accountability requirements for the 2019-20 and 2020-21 school years because the pandemic disrupted schooling and state assessments. The USED required all states to resume their accountability systems and identification of schools for support and improvement for the 2021-22 school year but allowed states to request a one-year addendum plan to adjust for missing data.

The MDE worked closely with the state’s Accountability Task Force, Technical Advisory Committee and the Center for Assessment to review and analyze assessment data to ensure the addendum proposal was technically sound and presented an accurate picture of the academic performance of Mississippi students.

The SBE set a goal in 2016 that all schools and districts be rated C or higher. From 2016 to 2019, the percentage of schools meeting this goal rose from 62.4 percent to 73.5 percent. The percentage of districts meeting the goal has increased from 62.2 percent to 69.7 percent. Over the same period, the number of schools and districts earning an A more than doubled, with A-rated schools jumping from 88 to 196, and A-rated districts increasing from 14 to 31.

The pandemic broke the comparability of pre-pandemic progress to the 2021-22 grades.

“After the early setbacks of the pandemic, Mississippi educators provided an enormous amount of support to help students recover from the interruptions to teaching and learning,” Dr. Benton said. “I am confident this work will continue to close achievement gaps and ensure all students graduate from high school prepared for success in college and the workforce.”