Valley Schools Improve Slightly Under New Accountability Standards

By Jack Gurner
Reporter

WATER VALLEY – Davidson Elementary School has moved to a Successful rating and has met growth standards, according to accountability model results released last Friday by the Mississippi Department of Education (MDE).

Students in the Water Valley School District showed some improvements in statewide test results, Superintendent Dr. Deborah Moran told School Board members during their meeting Sept. 7. “The leadership team and I are pleased with the results,” she said.

Water Valley High School remains at the Academic Watch level and did not meet growth standards, the results show. The graduation rate at WVHS is 58.6 percent compared to 64.3 last year. The average for the state this year is 71.6 percent.

The Water Valley School District overall remains at the Academic Watch level and has not met growth, according to the MDE. Last year both schools were at the Academic Watch level.

The district did score higher than the state average in mathematics for sixth grade with 71.3 percent scoring proficient and above, Moran said, with 69.3 percent of seventh graders proficient and above.

In language arts, 69.3 percent of sixth grade students scored proficient and above followed by 61.8 percent of fourth graders, also above state averages.

In high school testing, students scored higher than the state average in English II with 70.8 percent passing. Also, 90.6 percent passed biology and 96 percent passed U. S. history.

“Overall, as a district, we showed improvements,” Moran said. “We are looking at our data as a resource for helping our teachers in meeting the academic needs of their students.”

The Coffeeville School District received an At-Risk of Failing rating and has not met growth for the second year, the results show. However, Coffeeville Elementary School has improved to the Academic Watch level this year.

The graduation rate at Coffeeville High School is 68.9 percent, down from 75.6 percent last year.

Mississippi schools have improved slightly in the second year of a tougher accountability system that compares students to national standards. The accountability model, which was introduced last year, measures student performance on more rigorous curriculum and assessments.   

Under the accountability model, schools and districts received performance classification labels from highest to lowest:  Star, High Performing, Successful, Academic Watch, Low Performing, At-Risk of Failing and Failing.  

Three districts earned the Star labels this year – Enterprise School District, Pass Christian School District and Petal School District. Last year only two districts earned the Star performance classification label.   

Schools earning the Star status increased to six percent while 20 percent of schools are High Performing and 31 percent of schools are Successful.  The three top performance categories saw an incremental increase this year.  

Both Star and High Performing schools are performing above the national average, and Successful schools are performing anywhere from just below the Mississippi average to about the national average.

“While we certainly would have liked to announce more significant gains, we continue to make sustained incremental progress,” State Superintendent of Education Dr. Tom Burnham said. “Clearly, the quality of teaching and learning in the classroom in Mississippi is improving, and more importantly, student performance is improving.”

Classifications are based on achievement, academic growth or improvement and the graduation rates for schools with graduates. Achievement is measured by the Quality of Distribution Index (QDI), with the minimum QDI zero and the maximum at 300.

The state’s QDI is 154. Growth, on the other hand, is based on whether students demonstrate performance equal to or better than expected based on how they performed the previous school year.

At the other end of the spectrum, fewer schools and districts fell into the At Risk of Failing and below classifications.  In fact, out of the 53 schools that were labeled failing in 2009, only 19 repeated as failing.  Of those 19 schools, seven made progress.  

“Although the quality of education in Mississippi is improving, we must remember that schools and districts across the county are also improving.  In this competitive global economy, the administrators, teachers and students must work extremely hard to make the significant gains that I know our state is capable of making,” Mississippi Board of Education Chairman Charles McClelland said.  

“I truly believe that once we get the schools that are underperforming turned around, Mississippi’s education system will begin moving to the top of the national educational rankings. This year’s accountability results recognize that they are moving in the right direction. The Board is committed to mobilizing needed resources to help the low performing schools.”

To view the complete 2010 Accountability results for schools and districts visit www.mde.k12.ms.us/ors.