2015/05/21 – Mississippi kindergartners improved their reading skills since fall, according to the results of the first statewide assessment measuring growth from fall to spring.

More than 40,000 kindergartners took the STAR Early Literacy test in October and again in May. Their average scores jumped from 501 on the first assessment to 680 seven months later, according to the Mississippi Department of Education Chief Academic Officer Kim Benton, who presented them Thursday at the state Board of Education meeting in Jackson.

Test scores range from a minimum of 300 to a maximum of 900.

The first test results show the majority of kindergartners were “late emergent readers” and the second results show they are now “transitional readers.”

“These scores show that teachers have been equipping children with the foundational reading skills that are needed to progress in school,” Benton said in a press release. “Schools and teachers have been effective at helping students who start school unprepared exit Kindergarten with beginning reading skills.”

Here is a summary of the results:

Student-Level Results (broken down by reading classification)

Fall 2014 | Spring 2015

Early Emergent Reader 19,068 | 2,427

Late Emergent Reader 19,464 | 15,353

Transitional Reader 1,651 | 13,992

Probable Reader 262 | 9,040

Total 40,445 | 40,812

School-Level Results (broken down by reading classification)

Fall 2014 | Spring 2015

Early Emergent Reader 155 | 0

Late Emergent Reader 271 | 194

Transitional Reader 0 | 230

Probable Reader 0 | 2

Total 426 | 426

District-Level Results (broken down by reading classification)

Fall 2014 | Spring 2015

Early Emergent Reader 46 | 0

Late Emergent Reader 98 | 64

Transitional Reader 0 | 80

Probable Reader 0 | 0

Total 144 | 144

Source: The Clarion-Ledger 

Emily Le Coz