By Nicole Thomas
The Mississippi Department of Education has released accountability results based on state test scores from the Mississippi Curriculum Test 2 (MCT 2), Mississippi Science Test (MST), and the Subject Area Testing Program (SATP) for the 2013-2014 school year.
Overall, test scores in the Starkville School District increased slightly when compared to last year. SSD also maintained its “C” rating although a new formula was used to calculate ratings for schools and districts in Mississippi.
SSD saw its biggest gains in fifth and eighth grade science where 67 percent of students scored proficient or advanced in fifth grade while 66 percent of students scored similarly in eighth grade. The scores represent gains of 11 and 14 percent respectively over 2012-13 results.
SSD’s elementary students also increased scores in reading/language arts for the third year in a row with 57 percent of students scoring proficient or advanced in 2014.
SHS’s four-year graduation rate increased from 66 percent to 75 percent while SHS also showed tremendous gains in math among the lowest 25 percentile of students with 90 percent of the them meeting growth. Seventy percent of all students scored proficient in math.
“We had more than 100 students at SHS participate in several intensive test prep sessions after school to prepare for the state test,” said Asst. Supt. Tori Holloway, who served as interim principal at SHS for most of the spring semester. “Our teachers made every effort to help students succeed on the subject area tests, and the test scores show the results of their efforts.”
SHS’s overall score also increased 43 points when compared to impacted data provided by the Mississippi Department of Education for the previous school year which was almost enough to advance the school ranking beyond it’s current “C” mark to a “B”.
AMS improved their overall scores by 41 points and showed the most growth of any school in the district in the area of reading. AMS is just four points shy of advancing to a “C” rating.
“I continue to be impressed with our teachers’ hard work and their students’ results in an ever-changing educational environment,” Supt. Lewis Holloway said. “There are areas identified where we need to increase efforts and realign resources to provide additional support, and we have a plan to do that.”
“More importantly, what is happening in our classrooms every day is far greater than a single test score on a particular day. While the scores are important, they do not define our students or our teachers,” Holloway added. “SSD is committed to embracing the uniqueness of every child and nurturing his/her talents, even in those areas that are not tested, to help each one be successful.”
With an increased focus on the new standards being implemented in the lower grades, test scores at Henderson Elementary Schools were slightly lower than previous years likely because the test was aligned with the old standards.
“We made a decision to go ahead and concentrate on teaching the new standards because it was important to us to provide our students with a strong foundation to prepare them for future grades,” explained Holloway.
WSE and Henderson maintained their “B” and “C” ratings respectively with the accountability waiver granted to all schools in Mississippi because of the transition to the new standards.
While SSD has been more effective moving its lowest scoring students from minimal to basic, the District continues to work to find and implement effective tools to help more students improve from basic to proficient from one year to the next.
“SSD’s teachers and students are holding their own in the face of higher standards, but we are not yet gaining as much ground between these two categories of basic to proficient as needed,” SSD Assistant Superintendent Jody Woodrum explained.
Under Mississippi’s new accountability model, a district’s ability to help its lowest performing students meet their growth goal significantly impacts its accountability rating as the new model counts this group of students twice. As Mississippi’s testing model changes and evolves to reflect the adoption of the new Mississippi standards, the Starkville School District continues to evaluate data with each new assessment to move toward our high standards of achievement as well as meet the state’s new criteria.
“One of SSD’s goals for this year will be to drill down to specifics and fine tune the implementation of proven strategies to focus and improve in the critical areas of growth,” Woodrum added. “We are on the right track.”