Mississippi News is a non-profit news organization. While Mississippi students have shown steady improvement in state tests over the past few years, a closer examination of federal civil rights data as well as state-level test results shows that there are disparities in students’ access and discipline to higher education. ProPublica’s interactive database “Miseducation” was released last month. It contains data about school discipline, staffing and opportunity measures for over 96,000 public schools in the United States and 17,000 school districts during the 2015-16 schoolyear. These schools provided their data to U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. This data is combined with information from other sources in “Miseducation”. Mississippi Today reviewed ProPublica’s Mississippi data. These are the key takeaways. While black students accounted for half of the student population in Mississippi, ProPublica data showed that white students were 2.1x more likely than black students to enroll in Advanced Placement (AP), and 1.9x more likely than Hispanic students to enroll in one. Recently, the Mississippi Department of Education released data on AP course participation from 2017-2018. Last year, nearly 14,000 exams were taken. 32 percent of them received a passing grade of three or more. Nathan Oakley, chief academic officer at MDE, said that the number of students who have taken these courses has almost doubled since 2013. Oakley stated that the increased participation in Advanced Placement courses is one reason for the increase in enrollment. Carey Wright, the state superintendent of education, stated that students who score a qualifying score in an AP exam show they have met a national standard to master college-level material. “AP success this year among African-American students and Hispanics indicates that the achievement gap for advanced coursework is closing,” said Carey Wright, state superintendent of education. Testing data from recent school years has shown that while overall student achievement has improved, there have been slight differences in the performance of students from different races and ethnicities. This data is based on student performance in the Mississippi Academic Assessment Program. It is an annual state test that students take for math, English language arts, and English II for high school students. The state publishes test results by subgroups, including race, ethnicity, economic status, as well as other demographics. Oakley stated that the department provides subgroup data to make the public aware of these disparities. Oakley explained to Mississippi Today that the goal was to highlight achievement gaps. Oakley stated that “What’s in public eye gets attention” and said there were many factors that could contribute to the achievement gaps. However, Oakley stressed that teachers and students must both be aware of the high expectations, regardless of their backgrounds. It is also important to find qualified teachers for students. Oakley stated that it is difficult to find qualified teachers and sometimes certified teachers. Many of the challenges that Mississippi faces are not unique to Mississippi. ProPublica’s data showed that 13 percent of the full-time teachers in Mississippi had less than two years teaching experience. MDE data showed that 3 percent of Mississippi’s teachers were not certified last school year. This means they haven’t passed the required requirements to become licensed by the state. This is a small number of educators in Mississippi, but many of them are located in poor areas. According to MDE data, over a third of the teachers in Holmes County School District were not certified. According to the U.S. Census, 49 percent of residents in this district are in poverty. Angela Bass, Mississippi First director for policy, stated that students in predominantly black areas are more likely be served by teachers with zero to three years experience. Experience and skill are essential to be able to serve students effectively, particularly in high-poverty areas. “We see that these students are being served year in and year out by teachers who haven’t yet accumulated that experience.” Bass responded to a question about ProPublica data. Bass stated that historically, we have seen that Mississippi has worked to keep students from being separated by race. Bass stated, “I have seen a lack in equity investment.” ProPublica data shows that three quarters of the students who were expelled from school were black and 21 percent were white. Only 2 percent were Hispanic. For expulsions, 67% of students were black and 29 percent were white. 2 percent were Hispanic. Adrienne Hudson, a former educator and administrator, is now the founder of RISE Inc., a grassroots education nonprofit. She said that now that she is out of the classroom, she sees discipline issues in a different light. Hudson stated that administrators cannot see the forest from the trees. “We think, ‘Hey, there are 400 students in this school and I need to help them.’ But, in reality, we are failing these five or six students.” Hudson stated that there are simple solutions to this problem, such as reconfiguring teachers’ schedules to allow for more professional development, planning classes, and allowing for more time for teacher training. Hudson stated that we need to change our mindset and change the culture of schools in order to support students who are struggling. They are still part of our community. They can’t be just suspended away.” Bass agreed with Hudson that the type of discipline given and the students who are subject to it will depend on how experienced and prepared teachers are. She said that first-year teachers may not have the necessary skills to deal with students who pose a problem in the classroom. Bass stated that discipline may be related to biases teachers have. However, she also believes that better teachers are more capable of handling disciplinary issues. Bass said, “It’s a recipe to disaster if there are students with more special needs and teachers who are not prepared to help them.”_x000D