District and School Performance

The measure of academic achievement, or proficiency, on ELA and math assessments is a federal requirement and is a common measure of performance across states. In Mississippi, proficiency standards are modeled after proficiency on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, which is used as a national measure of student performance. This way, Mississippi students are prepared to compete in a national workforce.

While federal law does allow flexibility for assessments in high schools, assessments other than the Mississippi Academic Achievement Program (MAAP) assessment must meet federal requirements in the same manner as the MAAP assessment. These requirements include

English language proficiency for students whose primary language is not English is measured by the student’s performance on an English Language Proficiency Test (ELPT). Students who do not meet minimum performance standards on the ELPT receive additional services to become proficient in English. The new English Learner (EL) component of the Mississippi Statewide Accountability System is a requirement under federal law and measures the progress of students toward becoming proficient in English within five years of entering an EL program.

Does the Accountability System put too much emphasis on growth?

The Mississippi Statewide Accountability System awards schools and districts for both proficiency and growth, with added emphasis on the growth of the lowest performing students. In this manner, a school that has a relatively low proficiency rate but is making significant progress may be rated as a high performing school. This provides for more equality in the assignment of grade labels and accommodates schools with different challenges across the state.

State law requires that all schools and districts receive a grade of A, B, C, D, or F based on the performance of the school or district. The grade is assigned using all the information available regarding the school or district’s performance and is called a summative rating. Most states use a summative rating for schools and/or districts to make it easy for the public to know how a school or district is doing in educating students. Fifteen states currently use an A-F rating for schools and districts.

Using percentiles to assign grades is similar to when a teacher grades on a bell curve. Everyone gets a grade assigned based on the performance of others that are being graded. In the classroom, this would be helpful when a test is given for the first time, and we don’t know what is considered a good score verses a bad score. We only use this method in the first year that new performance measures are used.