May 18, 2017
JACKSON, Miss. – School- and district-level passing rates for the first administration of the 3rd Grade Reading Assessment are now available to the public.
Statewide, 92 percent of 3rd graders passed the test. The initial pass rates for the previous two school years was 85 percent in 2014-15 and 87 percent in 2015-16.
The Literacy-Based Promotion Act requires 3rd graders to pass a reading assessment to demonstrate they are ready for 4th grade reading instruction. Students are provided with three opportunities to pass the test.
This school year, the reading portion of the Mississippi Assessment Program (MAP) English Language Arts (ELA) was used to determine 3rd grade promotion. In the previous two school years, a reading test developed by Renaissance Learning was used as the initial test and for both retest opportunities. That test is now the alternative assessment for students who did not pass the reading test on their first try. Both tests assess the Mississippi College and Career Ready Standards of reading for foundational skills, informational text, literature, and language.
Students who did not pass the first reading test are being retested this week. The final retest opportunity will take place between June 26 and August 4, 2017.
Literacy Support Schools, which had literacy coaches assigned to them to provide support and training to teachers, had a pass rate of 87.5 percent this year, up from 78 percent in 2016 and 73 percent in 2015.
Mississippi’s Literacy-Based Promotion Act requires that a student scoring at the lowest achievement level on the 3rd Grade Reading Assessment be retained in 3rd grade, unless the student meets the good cause exemptions specified in the law. Local school districts determine which of their students who did not pass qualify for one of the good cause exemptions for promotion to 4th grade.
The Literacy-Based Promotion Act was amended in 2016 and will require students starting in the 2018-19 school year to score above the lowest two achievement levels in order to be promoted to the 4th grade.
For information about summer reading programs, contact local school districts. For more information about the Literacy-Based Promotion Act, visit www.mdek12.org/literacy.
Media Contact:
Patrice Guilfoyle, APR
Director of Communications
601-359-3706
Jean Cook, APR
Communications Specialist
601-359-3519