/Corinth schools will keep their grades, superintendent calls them an unjustifiable black eye

Corinth schools will keep their grades, superintendent calls them an unjustifiable black eye

Nonprofit Mississippi News A Northeast Mississippi district school district lost its battle against the state to stop accountability ratings it claims are unfair. Two schools that serve special-needs students were granted extra time before officials decided whether they should be given a grade. The state Board of Education voted Thursday to deny Corinth School District its appeal of its accountability rating. The board waited to make a decision about grades for Pascagoula Gautier School District Exceptional school and Harrison County Child Development Center. Both schools are exclusively for students with special needs. Annual A-F ratings are based on a variety of factors, including proficiency levels and progress in subjects tested on the Mississippi Academic Assessment Program. This is the state test that most schools use in Mississippi. Mississippi’s version of the Every Student Succeeds Act was implemented last spring. This federal law requires that every school be assigned a grade. Corinth sued the state to stop the release of these grades. Corinth argued that the unofficial C rating for the district was inaccurate and misleading because it allowed them to operate differently from traditional schools and prepare for an entirely different exam. Other special schools did not receive grades before Mississippi’s ESSA plan. Corinth’s first attempt to block these grades was unsuccessful when the State Board of Education approved those ratings in November 2018. The grade is unofficial and will not have any punitive effects until the 2018-19 school years. Corinth was given a C for district. The elementary school received a D rating, while the middle school received a C and high school received an F. Harrison County special schools received Fs. Lee Childress, Corinth superintendent, appeared before the board on Thursday to appeal the grades. He stated that the ratings did not reflect the fact that the district was doing well and that the ratings were inaccurate. Corinth is considered a “District of Innovation,” which means that the state allows it to have flexibility in its instruction. The district has a four-quarter school year. It teaches students using the Cambridge Assessment International Education based curriculum. Students are not required to prepare for the MAAP assessment all year. Childress stated that the grades were “an unjustifiable negative eye on the district” and the Corinth community. Although the ESSA law allows for some flexibility, assessments may be used as long as they conform to state standards. Officials from the Mississippi Department of Education told the board that the Cambridge Assessment is not compliant with Mississippi’s standards. Jason Dean, the board chair, stated that there is a fundamental distinction between Corinth and special schools because they serve students with special needs. They voted to defer making a decision about these schools because they believe the Legislature will consider legislation that would reclassify these schools into programs. This would exempt them from ESSA grades. Dean stated that schools that educate 100 percent of those with severe mental retardation or special needs would not be eligible for ESSA grades. Wayne Rodolfich, superintendent of Pascagoula, agreed with Dean. He told board members that students at his school have an average IQ range between 15-25 and that many operate at the developmental level for a 10-month old child. Rodolfich stated that regardless of how the accountability model is constructed in Mississippi, in this particular case…I don’t believe you can publicly humiliate exceptional children with a letter grade to increase performance.