Nonprofit Mississippi News The Mississippi State Board of Education approved the accountability results for the 2018-19 school years on Thursday. This means that these grades are now officially recognized. Although the ratings were positive for most school districts, they did not always go well. The state-run Achievement school district, which is charged with fixing schools in chronically failing schools, uses ratings to decide which schools should be included. A district can be eligible in three ways: * A district must have an F accountability rating for at least two consecutive years or twice over a three year period. * A minimum of half of a school’s students attend an F-rated school. A Mississippi Today analysis found that six of the following school districts meet these criteria: Amite County and East Tallahatchie. State leadership is already in place for the Noxubee County school district and the Yazoo City Municipal schools district. Noxubee was included in the district model of transformation last year. Yazoo City joined Achievement School District this summer as one of its inaugural areas. The scores of charter schools are improving According to Lisa Karmacharya, the executive director of the charter school authoriser board, this year’s results were a pleasant surprise. All charter schools eligible for a grade (Smilow Collegiate, Clarksdale Collegiate weren’t too recent) received a letter grade in the 2018-19 school years. She said, “We are thrilled to see our schools improve year after year. We are also grateful for the hard work of our teachers. It is thrilling to see such growth. Reimagine Prep received a B, Smilow prep received a C, Midtown Public Charter School received a D. All schools showed improvement in their growth scores, with Midtown being the most notable. This means that individual student performance in maths and reading increased from one year to the next. Growth scores show how schools are doing in improving student performance, as well the performance of the lowest 25% of students within a school district. Reimagine Prep’s 2019-20 school year marks the fifth year for Midtown Public and Midtown Public, which were the state’s first charter schools. The charter school contract can be renewed after the fifth year. Based on performance, the authorizer board may revoke or renew the charter. Midtown, previously consecutively F-rated until this year, has improved by 107 points, leading to a better letter grade. The school posted on Facebook that it was extremely proud of the growth and thanked parents, students, and teachers for their hard work. The post stated that “We are not yet satisfied with their results and we don’t believe they have yet captured the full brilliance of our students.” Midtown was addressed by Karmacharya, who pointed out the charter’s 100-point improvement. She also stated that the authorizer board would always be concerned when schools fail to perform as part of its mission. “… “The board will continue to follow its established renewal process and consider all facts to make an informed decision.” Corinth rating “moving towards” accurate portrayal. The Corinth School district saw a significant improvement in its rating this year, with a rating of B. However, the high school remains rated F. This comes a year after the district began a long-running battle against the state Department of Education. It was also the year that the state Capitol and courts were involved. Superintendent Lee Childress argued that the state’s accountability model was unfair because Corinth schools have a special designation by the state which allows them to teach students in new ways. Childress stated that the B accountability rating was moving towards a better portrayal of the school’s academic growth and achievement performance. Childress stated that the high school rating does NOT accurately reflect the school’s performance as it is partly based on past year data. This was because the school district has a 94.8 percent graduation rate and an almost perfect acceleration score. Acceleration is a measure of a district’s participation in and performance in accelerated courses such as Advanced Placement, dual credit, and International Baccalaureate. Low proficiency rates and graduation rates are troubling. The state’s graduation rate increased marginally to 84%, but there are exceptions. The schools with the highest graduation rates also received the lowest ratings. Shaw High School, in the Delta, had a 92 per cent graduation rate, but was rated F. According to data, less than 10 percent of students were proficient reading, and only 13 percent were proficient math. Port Gibson High School, in southwest Mississippi, had a 5 percent proficiency in reading and an 18% proficiency in math. The school had an 88 percent graduation rate. Carey Wright, Mississippi Superintendent for Education, acknowledged that this was a concern. Wright spoke Tuesday on a conference call with reporters. “That’s something we’re looking at at department level, to put it bluntly.” Wright stated that it is difficult to believe that you have a high graduation percentage when you have low proficiency levels. Wright also said that the department will release a detailed review of accountability results, broken down by subgroups such as race or disability status, at the October board meeting. Find your school district’s grades here.