School Grades: A Few Pointers (Cont.)
By Rachel Canter Yesterday, we did a thread to explain school grades. Here’s some additional information about growth because it is the hardest part to understand. Usually, when schoolwide proficiency goes up, growth will go up as well, BUT it is possible to have higher proficiency scores schoolwide from one year to the next and still have a […]
School Grades: A Few Pointers
By Rachel Canter School grades came out unofficially yesterday, and we’re already seeing (sometimes uninformed) chatter about what they mean. Here are a few pointers: Our state accountability system is based mostly on how well kids do on their end-of-year tests. The end-of-year tests are given in reading and math to all kids in grades 3-8, […]
Mississippi First Releases New Report on District and State Testing
Jackson, MS—Today, Mississippi First released Understanding District and State Testing in Mississippi. This report uses field research on testing practices in four diverse Mississippi school districts to determine how many tests Mississippi students take and how much time they spend taking those tests. It also describes common school district testing practices, such as how testing is conducted and […]
Understanding the Re-Setting of Cut Scores in Mississippi’s Accountability System, Part 3
By Rachel Canter This post is the last in our three-part series on cut scores. Read Part 1 (A-F system) and Part 2 (Setting Cut Scores) before this if you need more background knowledge to understand this post. Proposals for Changing the Cut Scores There have been three proposals for how to change cut scores: MDE’s original recommendation, the […]
Understanding the Re-Setting of Cut Scores in Mississippi’s Accountability System, Part 2
By Rachel Canter This blog post is Part 2. Read Part 1 here: https://www.mississippifirst.org/blog/understanding-re-setting-cut-scores-mississippis-accountability-system-part-1/. Setting Cut Scores The process of setting cut scores is in part technical and in part political. First, staff at the Mississippi Department of Education (MDE) compile all the scores from schools and districts and rank each from highest to lowest. (Schools […]
Understanding the Re-Setting of Cut Scores in Mississippi’s Accountability System, Part 1
By Rachel Canter This post is the first of a three-part series to explain the conversation about re-setting cut scores in Mississippi’s accountability system and to discuss the implication of doing so. This series is written in as plain a language as possible. This first part provides background information on the A-F grading system. The […]