Senate Bill 2508 The Senate Education Committee will vote later today on whether or not to extend the Mississippi Critical Teacher Shortage Act of 1998, which was originally set to expire later this year. The Act establishes a series of initiatives to incentivize teachers to teach in geographical areas of the state with a critical…
Read More →Who We Are
Mississippi First is the state's foremost education policy nonprofit working to improve pre-K-12 public education.
What We Support
We are a leading voice for state-funded pre-K, high-quality public charter schools, strong and sensible standards and accountability policies, high-quality curriculum, and great teachers and leaders.
Our Work
As experts in our field, we share our knowledge and insights with policymakers and the public through publications, presentations, and briefings.
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Why Do We Need to Improve Education?
Today’s students not only must measure up to their hometown peers; they must also compete against students across the state, the country, and the world. Since 2008, we have been leading a charge to make Mississippi first in education nationally, and we are finally seeing signs of success in the national data.
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Senate Bill 2511
Today, the Senate Education Committee will vote on a bill designed to expand access to teacher education programs at Mississippi’s four-year colleges and universities. The bill would effectively waive the standardized test score requirements to enter all traditional and most alternate route teacher preparation programs for applicants with a GPA of 3.0 or higher. Requirements…
Read More →Ahead of the Heard
Recently, Rachel was interviewed by Jennifer Schiess from Bellwether Education Partners. The interview was published on the Bellwether Education Partners’ blog Ahead of the Heard. During the interview, Rachel talked about the recent increase in NAEP scores and what they mean for Mississippi. She also discussed what Mississippi First has been focused on over the…
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