The Potential of Career Advancement Opportunities for Teachers
Editor’s Note: This blog post is part of an ongoing series of posts dedicated to K-12 education policy in Mississippi. *** By Grace Breazeale | Director of Research and K-12 Policy The Potential of Career Advancement Opportunities for Teachers Despite recent wins for public education in Mississippi, maintaining a strong and stable teacher workforce remains an issue. According […]
Raising Student Achievement in Mississippi’s Highest Need Districts
By Toren Ballard For the second year in a row, results from the Mississippi Academic Assessment Program (MAAP) exams suggest that Mississippi is continuing to defy nationwide trends in educational achievement: proficiency levels across all subjects were at all-time highs in 2023, and Mississippi is now one of just two states nationwide to have exceeded its pre-pandemic proficiency […]
What Factors Influence a Teacher’s Salary?
Editor’s Note: This blog post is part of an ongoing series of posts dedicated to K-12 education policy in Mississippi. *** By Grace Breazeale | Director of Research and K-12 Policy In this Post: What Factors Influence a Teacher’s Salary? In recent reports—including Falling Behind, which we released earlier this month—we have presented evidence that a […]
Mississippi First Releases Pivotal Report on Teacher Compensation and Inflation
Jackson, Mississippi—Mississippi First, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving education in the state, has released a new report titled Falling Behind: Teacher Compensation and the Race Against Inflation. The report provides a comprehensive look at the complex factors contributing to Mississippi’s teacher shortage with emphasis on how inflation has directly affected the impact of the recent […]
Students Deserve a Diverse Teacher Workforce
Editor’s Note: This blog post is part of an ongoing series of posts dedicated to K-12 education policy in Mississippi. *** By Grace Breazeale | Director of Research and K-12 Policy A growing body of research indicates that students of color benefit when their race or ethnicity is represented in the teacher workforce. Unfortunately, Mississippi’s teacher workforce does not reflect the […]
Fair Pay for Fair Work
Editor’s Note: This post is one in an ongoing series of posts dedicated to early education policy in Mississippi. *** By Micayla Tatum, Director of Early Childhood Policy A lack of wage parity is a longstanding issue in the early childhood profession. Childcare teachers, Head Start teachers, and public pre-K teachers have vastly different salaries and access […]
An Accumulation of Grievances
Editor’s Note: This blog post is a part of a new ongoing series of posts dedicated to K-12 education policy in Mississippi. *** By Grace Breazeale | Director of Research and K-12 Policy Teacher compensation has rightfully taken center stage in the effort to address the teacher shortage crisis in Mississippi. Still, there remains a host […]
Navigating a Winding Path: Earning an Early Childhood Credential
Editor’s Note: This post is one in an ongoing series of posts dedicated to early education policy in Mississippi. *** By Micayla Tatum, Director of Early Childhood Policy The educator pipeline crisis, which Mississippi First has researched extensively, also affects childcare centers, Head Start, and public school pre-K programs. In short, finding early childhood teachers is as […]
Mississippi First Releases Report Finding Teachers Are Eyeing the Exit
Jackson, MS—Today, Mississippi First released our newest report, Eyeing the Exit: Teacher Turnover and What We Can Do About It. This report takes a deeper dive into data first reported in our February 2022 report Voices of the Shortage: 2022 Mississippi Teacher Survey, which revealed that over half of teachers surveyed reported being “somewhat” or “very likely” to […]
The Leadership Shuffle: Exploring Turnover in Mississippi’s Principal Workforce
Editor’s Note: This blog post is a part of a new ongoing series of posts dedicated to K-12 education policy in Mississippi. *** By Grace Breazeale | Director of Research and K-12 Policy School and district leaders can be heavily influential in shaping the experiences of teachers, who in turn influence the strength of the educator […]