MDE Approves 4 Additional Early Learning Collaboratives
NEWS RELEASE from the Mississippi Department of Education For Immediate Release: November 10, 2016 State Board Approves Four Additional Early Learning Collaboratives Preschool Programs JACKSON, Miss. — The Mississippi State Board of Education voted today to add four new early learning collaboratives (ELC) to the…
Understanding and Interpreting 2015-2016 MAP Scores: Proceed with Caution
This week, the Mississippi Department of Education will release 2015-2016 MAP scores for all public school districts. These proficiency scores reflect achievement on the new state assessment called MAP that students took Spring 2016; they will not include student growth scores or school grades,…
Parents Show Support for Charter Schools
Jackson, MS–Yesterday, over 45 parents, teachers, and administrators from RePublic Charter Schools and Midtown Charter School rallied in front of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) office building showing their support for charter schools in Mississippi. “We want choice! We want choice! We want choice!”…
Statement on SPLC Lawsuit
PRESS RELEASE Mississippi First Rachel Canter Executive Director rachel@mississippifirst.org 601.398.9008 Mississippi First Statement on the Southern Poverty Law Center Charter School Lawsuit Yesterday, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) filed a lawsuit alleging that the Mississippi Public Charter Schools Act of 2013 is unconstitutional under…
A Charter School Provided an Option When My Child Needed Something Different
A Charter School Provided an Option When My Child Needed Something Different By: Lisa Collins At the age of ten, my son began expressing his hatred for school. For years, he has struggled with academics and was regularly sent out of class for behavioral issues….
Mississippi Teachers host Teacher Talk at the State Capitol
At the end of November, three members of the Educator Leadership Council (ELC) hosted the first-ever Teacher Talk at the State Capitol with legislators and the Mississippi Department of Education. The discussion was dedicated to reviewing feedback from a culmination of house meetings, focus groups,…
PEER PreK Report Fails to Meet National Standards for Research
Background On December 10, the PEER Committee released a report titled “The Early Learning Collaborative Act of 2013: Evaluation of the Operations and Effectiveness of the Program” about Mississippi’s new state-funded preK collaboratives. This report purported to evaluate several aspects of the implementation of the…
Mississippi First Releases 2nd Keeping the Promise: Charter School Brief
This week, Mississippi First released the second brief in the Keeping the Promise series. The Keeping the Promise Policy Briefs give recommendations for strengthening the charter school law and ensuring its high-quality implementation. The first brief, released earlier this year, identified weaknesses in the Mississippi…
Mississippi made gains on the Nation’s Report Card, but what does that mean?
Last week, the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP), also known as the Nation’s Report Card, released its 2015 scores. Mississippi was the only state (joined only by DC) whose fourth graders made statistically significant gains in both math and reading from 2013 to 2015….
MSF Announces Focus4Teens Counties
Mississippi First recently received a $3,072,999.75 5-year grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Division of Reproductive Health for the Focused Pregnancy Prevention for Mississippi Teens (Focus4Teens) project. Focus4Teens will develop the capacity of health center partners through a comprehensive training and technical…