Mississippi announced record education results, an achievement the governor said was due to keeping children in school during the pandemic.
The 2022-23 Mississippi Academic Assessment Program showed that the state’s students achieved record results in mathematics, English language arts (ELA), science, and U.S. History.
MAAP measures students’ progress toward academic goals that give them the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in college and the workforce. MAAP measures student performance in ELA and mathematics in grades 3-8, science in grades 5 and 8 and high school, English II, Algebra I, biology and U.S. History.
Those results make up a large portion of the A-F accountability grades schools and districts earn annually. Accountability grades for the 2022-23 school year will be released at the Mississippi State Board of Education meeting on Sept. 28.
Overall, the percentage of students scoring proficient or advanced is 52.6% in mathematics, 46.7% in ELA, 59.4% in science and 71.4% in U.S. History, MAAP officials said.
Those results are the most recent in a string of education victories reported for Mississippi, though some have claimed that the state gamed the system by holding some students back at a young age.
Since 2013, Mississippi’s national Quality Counts ranking for K-12 achievement improved from 50th to 35th, and the state’s overall education grade improved from F to C-. The national grade average is a C.
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said in a statement that the results achieved are due to conservative education reforms and keeping students in school during the pandemic.
“The Mississippi Miracle is real, and these new results are further proof of the continued success of our students,” Reeves said. “Thank you to the Mississippi teachers, parents, and students who helped make this record achievement possible.”
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According to the release, “The 2022-23 assessment demonstrated that student’s achievement had resumed the pre-pandemic momentum from 2016 to 2019, during which the percentage of students scoring proficient and advanced increased from 1.8% to 5.6% annually in ELA and mathematics. Student achievement in Mississippi and nationally dropped in 2021 due to the pandemic, though Mississippi students mostly rebounded by 2022.”
Since 2020, multiple school districts have invested federal pandemic relief funds into programs and services to help them overcome pandemic disruptions and accelerate students’ learning. Those funds help prioritize for communities to pay for additional learning days, tutorial services and intensive interventions. Those investments include the Mississippi Connects digital learning initiative, which provided all students with a computer device, and services including on-demand tutoring, high-quality digital curriculum subscriptions and digital learning coaches for teachers.
“The state was recently recognized as one of the top five states for high-quality pre-K. Mississippi’s high school graduation rate is currently better than the national average and at an all-time high, and the state is leading the nation in fourth-grade reading and math gains,” the release stated.
Dr. Ray Morgigno, interim state superintendent of education, said that Mississippi students’ academic achievements continue to improve as they reach higher levels of success.
“I am proud of what our students have accomplished and credit teachers and school leaders statewide for maintaining high standards and dedicating themselves to helping students reach, and exceed, their goals,” Morgigno said.
