JACKSON — Mississippi will remain a hard grader of its students, as state officials adopted test-score standards that mirror those used on a multi-state test students took in 2015.
The State Board of Education voted unanimously Monday to adopt the scoring standards , clearing officials to release scores for schools and districts and calculate A-to-F school and district ratings from the school year that ended in May.
Students in grades 3-8 and high school took the Mississippi Assessment of Progress for the first time this spring. The state hired Minnesota-based Questar Assessment to write it, replacing the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness of Colleges and Careers , taken by students in multiple states.
Both tests align with Mississippi’s Common Core-linked academic standards, and the state adopted a five-level scoring system of minimal, basic, pass, proficient and advanced, similar to the structure PARCC used.
Although the new test isn’t identical to PARCC or to the nationwide National Assessment of Educational Progress, scoring levels are meant to mirror those tests. They rate Mississippi students more harshly than old state tests, where as many as three-fourths of students in some grades and subjects were rated proficient.
Under the new test, fewer than a third of students rate as proficient on English and math tests in most years. About two-thirds of students reach “pass” or higher.
“When we’re talking about passing, we’re talking about a student reading on grade level, but that student has some things they need to work on,” said J.P. Beaudoin, who heads research and development for the department.
Beaudoin said a group of teachers recommended the score levels, which were reviewed by outside experts. Each computerized test for students in grades 3 to 5 had 58 to 60 questions, he said, while tests in grades 6 and above had 71 to 73 questions.
The score brackets have some other consequences besides the A-to-F grades that officials assign to schools and districts.
Starting in spring 2019, third graders will have to reach the middle passing bracket to advance to fourth grade on the English and language arts test, under Mississippi’s requirement that students achieve a certain scoring level. If that higher score requirement had been in effect this year, 35 percent of students would have failed. Beaudoin noted that students will get to take an alternate test if they fail the main test.
The score levels set on English II and Algebra I tests for high school students will also affect whether they graduate. Starting in spring 2017 , students will no longer have to pass subject tests, but they will be 25 percent of a student’s grade in that course.
Because score levels roughly track PARCC, board member Buddy Bailey noted that schools and districts should expect roughly the same grade from the 2015-2016 year as was just released for the 2014-2015 year. Although districts could retain higher grades from earlier years using a waiver, most districts got a lower grade under that rating system.
State Superintendent Carey Wright again urged teachers to evaluate each student’s test results for individual strengths and weaknesses.
“Behind every data point is a face,” she said.
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