Principals from each school in the Lowndes County School District explained, during a regularly scheduled board meeting on Friday, the accountability scores their schools received from the state and how to improve them in the future.
The Mississippi Department of Education in October gave the district as a whole a B for the 2015-16 school year. The district ranks 40th in the state among 146 school districts.
Some of the schools in the district maintained their grade, some dropped, and some rose a grade level.
The reason, principals said, is because the state has changed the test multiple times over the past few years.
“Over the past three years, we’ve taken three different tests,” said Caledonia Elementary School Principal Roger Hill. “To me, it’s hard to measure growth when you don’t have the same type test.”
Other problems principals said led to the scores received included overcrowding in schools, technological malfunctions with the test, attendance records and teacher turnover, among other things.
Some solutions the principals offered to improve accountability grades included identifying students that need intervention, targeting study subjects students need to improve in, more professional development for teachers, community and parent involvement, setting specific goals and improving attendance of students and teachers.
But the main factor in improving scores will be having the same test model every year, said New Hope Elementary School Principal Tammy Aldridge.
“When the target is moving, if you don’t know where you’re aiming, it’s kind of hard to get there,” she said. “We were on the right track, and then…they changed the model.”
The new model
District and school grades are based on the state’s A-F accountability system that evaluates how public schools across the state performed during the academic year. The system evaluates schools using the Mississippi Assessment Program (MAP) for English language arts and mathematics.
Prior to the 2012-13 school year, Mississippi schools were tested using the Mississippi Curriculum Test (MCT). In 2013-14, the model changed to the Second Generation of the Mississippi Curriculum Test (MCT2). The test changed again in 2014-15 when all schools across the country went to common core standards. Mississippi schools used the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) during that year. The state switched to the MAP test in the 2015-16 school year.
Assistant superintendent Robin Ballard said the MAP test is harder with higher standards. She said the test went from bubbling in answers on paper to a computer test that had two- and three-part questions and required students to cite evidence for answers.
“It was a much more rigorous test. Some of our schools came out better, and some of our schools went down,” Ballard said.
The scores
The state froze each school’s accountability scores when the state changed the test model from MCT2 to PARCC in the 2014-15 school year. That means, during the time when the testing model was changing, schools were given a waiver, and the scores did not count against them.
Schools were last held accountable in the 2012-13 school year, and they became accountable again in 2015-16.
From 2012-13 to 2015-16, Caledonia Elementary School went from an A to a B, and Caledonia Middle and Caledonia High schools went from Cs to Bs; New Hope Elementary School went from a B to a C. New Hope Middle School maintained a B, and New Hope High School went from a C to a B; West Lowndes Elementary School went from a B to a C, and West Lowndes High School went from a C to an F.
“Even with those drops, our district is still only 63 points away from being an A-rated district, and that’s very doable. That is our goal,” Ballard said. “We are determined to grow, and we know we can be an A-rated district.”
In other business
The board approved reinstating early release Wednesdays to allow school staff to meet after hours.
Lowndes County schools will release students at 2 p.m. instead of 3 p.m. on Wednesdays beginning Jan. 4.
Board member Jane Kilgore requested to amend the motion and begin early release at the beginning of the next school year in August instead of January to provide more warning of the change to parents, but the amendment was voted against.
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